Where It All Ends
by dayviiareader
Summary: 'A VERY URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE MADE AT 16:00 ON CHANNEL ONE. YOUR TELEVISION WILL AUTOMATICALLY SWITCH TO THIS STATION AT APPROXIMATELY 15:50'. It took this heartbreaking statement for Mercedes and Sam, after 3 years, to finally be honest with themselves and each other. They may have left it too late; can they make up for lost time?
1. Chapter 1

**Mercedes**

I crossed my legs, and he draped an arm over the knee pulled up to his chest. And there we sat, facing each other. His bright green eyes were so sad and heartbreaking.

He pulled off his shirt, nodding for me to do the same.

I could have felt self-conscious in an 'I-know-I-ought-to-be' kind of way. But that wasn't true; it felt like I was being honest. I still had my tank top on, anyway. His gaze overwhelmed me, so I let my eyes drop to his bare chest - wide and strong and pale and faintly glistening with sweat. I was transfixed by its rise and fall.

With his outstretched hand, I think he was spelling out his name on my jean-clad thigh, sending a rush of nerves to my very core.

I leaned closer, lightly tracing my fingertips over the muscles carving his arm.

My eyes met his earthy green ones, flecked with sparkling raindrops. But they were tears, not promises. By the bob of his Adam's apple, I could see him refusing to let them fall.

As I ran my fingers delicately to his wrist, his hand clasped mine, interlocking our fingers.  
He pressed his thumb to the corner of my mouth, stopping me from gnawing at my lips. Although I noticed it before, it meant something else now, something very intimate; his jeans were unbuttoned and unzipped, revealing his black boxers underneath.

I was trapped between his long legs. The electricity was thrilling, and there was so much of it. He slid one hand to the back of my neck, sweetly possessive, and his other arm wrapped around me, palm pressing to my lower back. One of his fingers pushed away the clingy fabric of my top, brushing against my skin. I traced a line from the centre of his collar bone, between the planes of his chest to briefly feel the beating of his heart and then down to his hard-muscled stomach. Perhaps it was the anxiety and giddiness that made me smile.

I felt his gentle, rough hands move underneath my top, gripping my waist. Anytime before now, before this tragic month, I would have been so self-conscious about his hands on me this way, touching my soft sides and stomach. I wasn't slim or toned like Quinn.

But the sexy and authoritative sharpness in his eyes dared me to move away, dared me to be scared or self-conscious. There was no time to care about that. I wanted him, and he wanted _all_ of me.

I wrapped my hands around his wrists, and directed them so his fingers hooked underneath the hem of my top. I hadn't even realised my eyes welled up until I finally blinked, and allowed the tears to spill down my cheeks. I saw his jaw clench, and it looked like he was keeping his eyes shut so he wouldn't cry.

When he opened them, he took in a deep, shaky breath, and exhaled heavily. He started to lift up my tank top, carefully, as if a piece of me would go with it. It was so calming to let him undress me.

**Sam**

I peeled her vest over her arms and head, placing it beside me without breaking our eye contact. With two light touches, I wiped away the tears from Mercedes' beautiful face, before she caught my hand and held it in hers.

My heart was breaking with every tear she shed, shattering with every second that passed without feeling every inch of her body on mine.

I gripped Mercedes' arm and tugged her closer so she'd sit between my legs. So gently, she pressed her mouth to my cheek - how I craved her touch. She shivered, as my fingertips ran soothingly down her spine.

For a long while, that was how we stayed; with little distance between our hot skin and the suffocating denim over our legs. Two semi-naked bodies pressed together to make two halves of one soul. She finally kissed me, and as I instantly parted my lips for her, she responded, I could feel her tongue skimming mine. I didn't want this feeling of connecting to ever stop. Our tongues continued to lap each other up, and I softly squeezed her bottom lip between my teeth.

I savoured the melting sensation I felt when her hands brushed against my pelvis as mine did to her. I cherished the way she squirmed as the rough denim grazed against the chocolate skin smoothed over her hipbones.

With all the strength I could muster, I tried to rid my mind of the truth. This would be one of the final times I'd get to see her, to touch her.

We were going to die.

In seven days time, the world was no longer going to be a world.

All I could hope for was that, until that final day, I'd be able to feel the pent-up intensity in these desperate touches again and again until then.

**Mercedes**

We moved as one to the double bed in his guestroom.

I gripped the wood of the bedpost beneath my fingers, hoping to mould it the way Sam was moulding into me. The thick bands of muscle in his arms, chest and abs were flexing against the soft curve of my stomach and breasts. His hand was trembling in mine as silent tears slid down my cheeks. He couldn't see them because his warm forehead and damp blonde hair was nestled into my shoulder.

He didn't know how much my heart begged to be torn out from my chest: I didn't want to hurt for the rest of my – for the rest of _our_ short timed lives.

Why couldn't I just have Sam alone?

**Sam**

Why couldn't I just have her? Together, we'd face the end of life.

I knew she was crying, because when she cried, she swallowed more often. Tears were burning my eyes too, but I didn't want her to see them.

_Why not?_ There's nothing left to hide, and there's no time to lock away emotions. I lifted my head from the comforting warmth of her neck and touched my forehead to hers, mixing our tears together. I never cared for Quinn this way, and I knew Mercedes never cared for Shane this way either.

We were both in other relationships. But Mercedes and I were in love. I knew, and she knew, that we needed to end it with them.

But millions of questions prevented us from doing so:

Does it matter, since there's only a week of life, of caring, left?

Did we have the right to make their final time on Earth so miserable?

Or did that mean we_ shouldn't_ break up with them?

Did we want to die unfaithful?

We were both religious Christians, so where were our morals?

Although, as of late, I had started to doubt my own faith - was now the time to be agnostic?

Or was it the best of times?

The doomed world outside was closing in on me, and all that I wanted right now was to be inside her, the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and take shelter there until this asteroid destroyed the world, and ripped us apart.

**Mercedes**

I wasn't aware of how much Sam needed me, how physically sensitive he was to me. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief – finally realising that it was both him and me together in this. As I exhaled, I shifted my weight, just slightly, and I felt him react. His body jerked, and he moved awkwardly, lifting his hips away from me.

During the past hour of just being silent and intimate, we had definitely connected more than I could ever imagine. Now, I was in tune with his body. I understood it. All I did was move position slightly, and he had reacted.

I ran my hands down his smooth, toned back. I spoke for the first time since being together this way. "Touch me," I whispered.

He dragged his eyes up to meet mine. "Cedes, I couldn't help it." His voice was seductively raspy.

"You shouldn't have to, Sam. I don't want you to help it. Touch me," I repeated.

His wide, pink lips pulled up into a sheepish grin.

**Sam**

I adored her so much. She knew me, inside and out.

I lowered my body again, and though I was hesitant, I wasn't trying to hide it. There was nothing to be ashamed about. I heard her take a sharp intake of breath when she felt my erection touch the inside of her thigh.

It's been a year since we cautiously made each other aware of how we truly , we did absolutely nothing about it. I got with Quinn, and she got with Shane. Our messages to each other, though, were always heavy with our unsaid words and unspoken affection.

Literally, I had imagined this moment for too long – adding to it every single time.

I wanted to treasure this moment to the very last second.

Both of us were obviously strong and hateful enough to ignore our urges, to ignore my erection and her ragged breaths. Mercedes wanted to savour this moment too.

**Mercedes**

I wanted us to admit what was ahead of us: that during the past three weeks of utter chaos and turmoil and panic and fear, right now was our first moment of clarity. And embracing it meant we could finally get lost in each other's eyes, hearts and souls. We could get lost in ourselves until only the world's destruction could find us.

**Sam**

I kissed her before she spoke. I sucked at her soft lips. I didn't want her to speak, I didn't want to hear those words, but there was no avoiding the truth lurking over us. I _needed_ her to admit the thought plaguing my mind ever since that announcement.

**Mercedes**

When he pulled away, fresh tears spilled from his eyes and onto my neck. He felt the same way I did; we had to acknowledge our fate, we couldn't tiptoe around it.

"I don't want to die, Sam. I don't want _us _to die."

**Sam**

For the first time since I've known her, there was nothing I could say in response; there was no sarcastic comment or words to comfort her. I didn't want to die, either. And the thought of Mercedes, my real world, being obliterated by this asteroid, made me want to cry again. I very needed and desired to make love to her, but I wanted to do it when we had both accepted what was coming.

**Mercedes and Sam**

"I'm so afraid."

We both cried into each other's arms: our own personal sanctuary and escape.


	2. Chapter 2

**Three weeks prior**

**Mercedes**

"Are we actually supposed to stay indoors-"

"For the rest of the day?" Puck finished, and sounded completely outraged about it.

I thought my parents would assume that we were joking when we came into the house and told them what we were told. But the looks on their faces confirmed it to be true.

At first, when Quinn and I were approached by a police-like officer, we exchanged uncertain looks.

He was wearing a fitted, fluorescent jacket, which looked as if it was lined on the inside with steel. He wore grey cargo pants tucked into tough leather boots.

On the far side of the road, a police car pulled up. Our area wasn't really a bad one in terms of crime, so I knew whatever this situation was; it was something new and unusual.

Two more officers stepped out of the car, allowing a few people to step out; my adopted brother, Puck, and our neighbour with her daughter.

Puck was about to stroll towards the house when the tallest one of the two carefully held him back by his shoulder.

As our officer paused a few feet away, he turned to his colleagues and gave one sharp nod. That was when I noticed the rifle tucked into his belt. "Girls, there's been an order issued by Government Security. I'm Officer Karofsky." He flipped open a badge to prove his official status. "Everyone has been instructed to stay indoors until further notice." My heart rate quickened.

Quinn spoke up. "Can I ask why?"

"You can, but you will be better informed about this routine once you return to your household. If you're not local to this area, then an officer such as myself will transport you to where you currently reside."

"We live just down this road," I finally managed to say.

"Good. Will you need me to escort you?"

I heard her sarcastic comment before she even said a word, so I gently squeezed her elbow to stop her from talking. "My brother just got dropped off by your colleague, so we'll be alright."

"Good, then I suggest you go now."

"Yes, sir." I pulled Quinn along by her arm.

"I don't want to worry either of you," he called as we passed him into the road, "but just don't waste any time right now." We continued to cross over to the police car, while casting glances back toward Officer Karofsky. He gave an awkward wave before walking away.

Puck's eyebrows pulled down when he saw us approaching, just as the woman shuffled herself and her daughter to their house. "You okay, Cedes?"

"Yes," I answered, shrugging his arm away.

"Why did you just get dropped off by the police?" Quinn couldn't help but ask.

"I wasn't in my 'local area', so they had to- "

"You all need to be indoors right now. You were just instructed to not waste any time.

"We were -"

"This is a matter of urgency." The taller officer stated.

Without another word, I pulled Quinn along with me; her house wasn't far from ours.

Puck strode behind us, ignoring Quinn as usual.

"Okay, isn't this a little bit weird?"

I had to agree with Quinn.

"Who's to say this isn't just a joke?"

"Um, it's probably not, Puck." I looked in the direction Quinn had pointed towards, where several more police cars turned onto the street, where a small crowd of people were walking home in a verge of panic.

That was when I thought to myself, well, maybe there was something for me to be scared about.

"I'll walk you home, Quinn," I offered.

"You don't-"

"Or Puck could walk you."

"What?" He objected, already refusing the idea.

"It's fine, my mom's about to walk right over here."

Puck muttered something under his breath, but I couldn't care less about what it was.

Quinn hesitantly kissed him on the cheek, saying goodbye, before he pushed open the gate to the path leading to the house. "Hope you'll be okay," he called back.

"Depending on what's going on, I'll see you later?" She asked.

"You got it." She hurried home. We had only run into each other ten minutes ago. Just as we were about to say our awkward goodbyes, the officer had approached us.

I followed Puck into our house.

After he let us in, we saw our parents in the living room. Dad was already standing in front of the television when we entered, and Mom slowly got to her feet as both Puck and I asked if this situation was as serious as it sounded.

"What is going on?" I asked, hoping someone had an answer.

My dad just frowned at the TV screen, and then I realised, as he flicked from channel to channel, the same message was displayed in bold white capitals on each one:

**'A VERY URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE MADE AT 16:00 ON CHANNEL ONE. YOUR TELEVISION WILL AUTOMATICALLY SWITCH TO THIS STATION AT APPROXIMATELY 15:50'**

The clock read 3.36pm, and some channels had already frozen to their default screen. "What is this about?" My mom wondered.

"We'll soon find out. Anyway, did you feed yourselves when you were out?" This was my dad's form of distraction - focusing his attention on the rest of us.

Puck quietly admitted that he didn't get the chance to eat. "Come and show me what you want," Mom suggested, taking his arm to head towards the kitchen.

I leaned towards my dad to swipe the remote from his hand and switched to Channel One, wondering what they would play before this emergency statement. There was live coverage of officers marching or standing guard on the street.

Even the homeless were being brought to community centres to watch the news on large screens.

The newsreader attempted to get on with other news, despite the broadcasted message on the screen taking away my attention.

Puck came out with his plate of food.

3.50pm came about in a blur, and I measured it by the amount of bites Puck had of his meal, by the number of times my mom left her seat to find some trivial task to do about the house. I measured it to the sound of my dad grinding his teeth.

Then Sue Sylvester confirmed that all TV screens will now be displaying Channel One, and that we will be notified when the other channels will be unfrozen.

I noticed how my brother wasn't even considering finishing his chicken salad and garlic bread, so I complained that I wanted to eat something and he offered his plate to me.

By the time I swallowed down the final bites, and braided the tassels on the throw-over, 4pm had finally arrived.

_How is Sam feeling at the moment? Is he sitting with his sister on his lap, staring at the screen? _

_Is he texting Quinn, rather than me?_

_Was he thinking of me?_

My stomach growled quietly with the unexpected delivery of food but my heart began to race again at the thought of Sam.

When this urgent report began, I instantly knew it wasn't good - Sue's facial expression was a mask of professionalism.

The only bit she gave away was that each leader across the world was going to address his or her own country. When our president's tired face came on, my heart was either beating too fast for me to feel it, or it had stumbled off its rhythm altogether.

**Sam**

One month.

That's all we have. Our US president repeated this a few times, like we wouldn't have heard him the first time.

Well, I didn't believe it.

It was the NASA people, the geologists, the astronomers, the physicists, the government guys - it was all of them who confirmed it, and made it all real. My mom had frozen in her seat, covering her nose and mouth with praying hands. I tuned back in when the president appeared again.

People of the most important, scientific professionals were involved in a classified operation for several years now.

Unsuccessfully, they attempted to 'destroy, de-path or eliminate the catastrophic impact of an island-sized asteroid', on direct course with Earth.

Cliché, I had thought, before realising I was watching _the news,_ and it was late June, so I couldn't even pass it off as a poor April Fool's Day prank.

After the many failed missions they deployed, there was no longer any chance of stopping it, and the only fraction of hope lied in the slight possibility that some part of the Earth would remain. I stopped listening there, to smother my face with my hands after my little sister, Stacy, slid off my lap and ran into my mother's arms.

It wasn't the statements themselves that had me quietly crying, it was the sadness on their faces, the water in all of these professional eyes as they desperately tried to keep it together.

Things became muffled around me, like I was far away from here.

I lifted my head from my hands, and saw my mother sobbing into Stacy's hair. Stevie, my little brother, sat open-mouthed and sat at their feet. My dad was kneading his knuckles into his palm over and over again.

The first person who took over my initial shock wasn't any of my family, because they were right there with me. It wasn't Mercedes, the girl I had loved since forever. It was my reluctant girlfriend, Quinn. Our relationship was a sham – she lusted after Mercedes' adopted brother, Puck, anyway. Yet neither one of us ever thought to just end it.

My mind went blank, like it was sucked into a black hole and I was lost.

The only thought pounding in my head was: _we're all going to die, and there's nothing to do about it._

Freezing cold water was splashed into my face.

"Stevie! I said sprinkle it, not drown him in it!"

"Sorry, Dad" he mumbled.

"Why did you do that?" Even to me, my voice sounded as if it belonged to a cold stranger.

"Y-you were frozen for like, twenty minutes." I wiped my face with my sleeve, and brushed the heavy drops of water from my hair.

"Kind of scaring us there, son. You weren't speaking or anything," he said, gripping Stevie's shoulders. "You okay?"

Continuing to wring my hair, I looked up at him. "Is the world still ending?"

Stevie wrenched himself out of my dad's grasp and ran into the kitchen.

"I had just calmed him down," but he didn't sound angry. He sat down next to me on the couch. "I can't believe this is happening either, Sam."

My voice was thick, but I wouldn't let myself be weak when my family needed me to be strong for them, like always. "Where's Mom and Stacy?"

"Mom's talking to your aunt, and Stacy hasn't let go of her since. And now Stevie's with them."

I nodded my head, bouncing my knee to keep some part of me awake. "Why is this happening?"

"I couldn't even ask God why this is happening."

"W...what do we do, Dad? I mean – what do we do? What _can_ we do?"

He made this sound – part sob, part chuckle and part sigh. "Forgive my language, son – we just have to make the fucking most of it."

I didn't know how I managed to smile, but I did. I was terrified of what was coming, obviously, and scared about how the world would react, but so what?

I was sort of...content. The end of the world was only weeks away, I couldn't do anything about it and all I wanted to do was...I didn't want to cry or be sad or be destructive; not right now. It felt as if a colossal weight had been lifted from my shoulders, somehow.

Right on cue, Mercedes called, and my heart unexpectedly jumped.

**Mercedes**

I couldn't even speak. Tears were streaming down my face.

I think part of the reason I was crying was because, after the devastating announcement that the world was ending, the first person I called was not Shane, my boyfriend for nearly six months. It was Sam, my best friend, and lover in my own fantasies.

Neither one of us spoke for a moment. I didn't know how to react or how I _should_ react.

"Speak, Ma Sweet." His private nickname for me, said in his well-executed Southern accent, jolted me out of my reverie.

"S-Sam."

"Yeah, it's Sam. Sam I Am."

"How can you joke?"

He sighed heavily down the phone. "Will you stop crying?"

"I'm not."

"Stop_ not_ crying, then." This short exchange happened every single time I was upset. Things never changed between us.

"I can't believe this, Sam," I said, after clearing my throat.

"I know."

"What do we do? I mean – won't the world go, like, insane?"

"Probably. We can either join it -"

"Or do our own thing?"

He sighed again. "Exactly."

"Our relatives have not stopped calling us. They keep saying prayers over the phone to each other and reciting Bible passages -"

"You just rolled your eyes, didn't you?"

"Damn right I did. Anyways, my dad's been all over the internet, trying to find as many articles as he can. He can't believe it. Then the internet crashed because _everyone_ must be on it right now."

"Damn. How's Puck?"

"Up in his room, yelling and breaking stuff."

"And what about you?" Worry was thick in his voice.

"How am I supposed to be, Sam? How are you?"

"Cedes, I just wanna make the best out of the rest of our lives; 'dif-tor heh smusma.'"

I've heard him say that Star Wars phrase so many times that I knew what it meant without having to ask: live long and prosper. "That's kind of redundant, don't you think?" I said drily, but he chuckled in response. "Why aren't you terrified like...a normal person?"

"We have four whole weeks to be scared for something that can't be helped. I plan to schedule some epic freak-out-ness during the final week." I couldn't help but giggle. Hearing me laugh, he added "maybe, if the mood is right, I'll schedule a mini panic attack next Thursday night. Would you like to partake?"

After I stopped laughing, with a very giddy and anxious feeling in my stomach, I said "yeah, if I have any panic left in me by then. Seriously, Sam, where do we start?"

He was silent for a moment. "We start tomorrow - a party!"

"Are you insane?"

"Of course. I think we should throw a huge party with loads of food, loads of alcohol and loads of music."

Sam's excitement was completely catching. "We could sing songs, too."

"Totally. Where though?"

"Sounds like it's gonna have to be a 'no permission necessary' thing. I bet someone's parents would allow it but it feels inappropriate to ask."

"No time for that. Who's gonna come anyway? I mean...obviously gotta invite Quinn-"

"And Shane," I added. "Hell, we should invite everyone. Start a Facebook group and everything. Everyone from school, all our own friends. Just make it a massive rave."

"I'm with you, Cedes, but _where_?"

"You know what else this sounds like? An outside thing. What about the small woods, around the corner from school?"

"The weather has been pretty decent."

"And maybe God will bless us with a sunny day tomorrow."

"Amen." He paused for a second, and I heard a couple of clicks. "Yes, Ma Sweet, that's perfect. In the picnic area? Trying to check the weather for tomorrow."

I said the one very relevant thing that could eradicate all the doubts and reservations in the world. "Who cares about the weather anymore?"

"See, I actually don't want to have hyperthermia for the rest of my short life."

"From what?"

"If it's too cold outside."

I loved correcting him – because he never got annoyed about it, he always encouraged me to tell him the right thing. "You'd get _hypo_thermia, in that case."

"That's what I meant."

"It's not gonna be that cold anyway. It was nice today, tomorrow should be-"

"God."

"What, Sam?"

Then he started laughing, hysterically. I'd have joined in, just because I loved the way he laughed, but I was kind of worried.

"The world is ending, and we're talking about the _weather_. We officially suck."

That was definitely a reason to smile. "Okay, mister, we're having this party tomorrow, from eight 'o' clock onwards. In the woods by the school? We'll map it out."

"And even if only the two of us turn up, it'll still be amazingly epic. You feed me, I feed you. We'll get drunk together."

"So true." A pang of guilt hit my stomach – I needed to care if Shane would be there or not. "Sounds great. So everyone brings food?"

"Or a bottle."

"Puck's got these scarily loud amplifiers, if we hook that up to someone's laptop..."

"Then we got a party, baby."

"I can't believe we're doing this. Like...damn."

"You only live once."

I rolled my eyes. "So cliché, Evans."

"Yeah, well-" My phone was beeping. When I pulled the phone away, with a guilty feeling inside, I saw that Shane was trying to call me. "Sam, you spoken to Quinn yet?"

Without even hesitating, he said "you were the first to call me, Cedes," he said, in a knowing voice. "What about Shane?"

I was an awful person - the worst. I was the one who had placed the call, and it wasn't to my boyfriend.

"We've been friends longer than we've been in relationships. It's understandable," he reassured me.

"I guess." The beeping sound continued. "Sam, I gotta go. But I'm gonna set up this Facebook group-"

"Not before I do."

"Ugh, fine. I'll ask Puck about the music situation. And I'll send out a few texts for people to bring stuff."

"Sounds like a plan, Ma Sweet."

"Talk to you later?"

"Yeah."

**Sam**

I wasn't feeling scared or excited right now. I felt devastated, like something had wrapped around my heart and was yanking it up into my throat.

I sat there, in silence, with my phone in hand. Then I texted Quinn, because I was always concerned about her, despite my mixed feelings.

**Q are u ok? This is ker-razy, huh? **I simply didn't know what else to say to her.

Throwing my phone down onto the couch as I waited for her reply, I sought out my mom.

She was alone in the kitchen, idly wiping down the counter.

"Mom, are you okay?" She looked at me through red, puffy eyes and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.

I opened my arms to her, and she ran into them, crying against my shoulder.

Tears swelled in my eyes too. I didn't know what to say to her. She was my mother, how could I comfort her when there was nothing good to be said?

I mean, I had my family, and I had my friends. I suppose I had Quinn, but Mercedes was there for me, which was most important. I'm still young, so that meant I had a reason to party and drink and be depressed when I needed to be.

Mom, however, had children. I couldn't imagine knowing that my children were going to die, and there being absolutely nothing I could do to protect them. So I held her, and allowed her to cry out her weakness into my dampening t-shirt.

Finally, as her breathing began to level out, I said the only thing that I thought could bring my mom back to her real self. "So - we're throwing this awesome rave tomorrow night. Wanna come?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Emotional me:thank you to all my readers/followers/reviewers. If not for you, I'd lose the will to continue writing. I appreciate all of you, honestly.**

**Please read and review (I NEED those reviews to fuel me) and enjoy. **

**Still don't own Glee or, uh, Facebook by the way =D**

* * *

**Mercedes**

_Tomorrow, I'll invite him_, I thought after getting off the phone with Shane.

We had talked about absolutely everything; what we were proud of in our lives, what we wish we had done and what we should do in our final few weeks.

But my heart wasn't in it.

He was too upset for me to simply change the subject to the party in the woods. Besides, I was slightly distracted by Sam's immediate work on our Facebook page; **Samcedes' End of World Rave! **

Shane and I had drifted into silence, and I was about to tell him about the plan when I heard a nasty scream from his end of the line.

"S-Shane? What was that? Is everything okay?"

I heard heartbreaking sobs after that.

"It's Mama. She's been crying like that ever since. Come see me tomorrow, baby?"

Over the sound of his mother crying, I half-heartedly agreed and said goodbye.

Trying to distract myself, I went about texting all the Glee members, and a few of my other friends about the party, and instructed them to bring as much food and alcohol as humanly possible and to pass on the message.

After that, my parents called both Puck and me downstairs.

"We love you two so much," Mom started.

Neither of them actually said it to us regularly. It would take impending death for them to say it on their own accord, wouldn't it?

"We love you too."

"Well, yeah" Puck agreed.

"And we want to spend as much time as we can with you, before..."

"But we also realise that, well...we've been pretty strict with you two-"

"Ain't that the truth," Puck and I said under out breath. Even our parents smiled.

"So we're giving you free reign," Dad finished.

The room was silent until Puck spoke. "What does that mean?"

Our parents exchanged a look. "It means you can do what you've ever wanted to do. You've got to be careful, of course..." My mom said.

"But we trust that you will be. Within some kind of reason, the world is your oyster, guys. The only thing; we want you to promise that every Sunday we have from now," his voice caught, as his sadness resurfaced, "will be spent together, at home. Deal?"

"Of course," Puck agreed, and stood up to hug both of them. "Can I go have fun now?"

"Just be ca-" Mum didn't have time to finish before Puck shot upstairs.

Remembering that I had a party to organize, I kissed my parents on the cheek and told them I loved them. "And girls just wanna have fun, too."

I hurried after my adopted brother, and stopped in the doorway to his bedroom.

"What are you doing tomorrow night?"

"I won't be _here_, I can tell you that much."

"There's gonna be a party, Noah. In the McKinley woods? And we need some music."

"And you wanna borrow my awesome speakers, right?"

"Right."

"What do I get in return?"

"Well...you can come along, if you want. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is probably gonna be there."

"Sounds lame."

I wasn't afraid to play dirty; not anymore. "I bet if you got ten minutes alone with Quinn, you'd bring your ass then."

He didn't speak, but I knew I'd get those speakers from him.

**Sam**

"Why on Earth would you do that?"

I regretted inviting Quinn as soon as I said the words. But some stupid part of me wanted her to come.

"Why on Earth not? It's gonna be great – and I think now's a better time than any." I was at her house, and she was glaring as I printed off a load of bright blue arrows and a few posters that I made.

"This is how you react to death? Throw a huge party?"

"Yes. Will you come? Please, Quinn, live a little. Not much time until you can't anymore."

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

"Well, I guess not." I casted a sideways glance, hoping she'd chill out. The answer was no. "So what are you gonna do? Hole up in your room and wait for death to take you out?"

She shook her head at me. "This isn't something to celebrate, Sam. Think of all the people that are going to die."

I slid the stack of prints onto the desk and flicked through them. "Yeah, and we're two of those people, darlin'." She muttered something under her breath. "What was that?"

"Why aren't you scared?" She demanded.

How many times have I heard that today? Maybe not a lot, but it damn sure felt like it. "Okay. I'm terrified - I'm crapping my pants just thinking about it. I don't want to die, Quinn. That's why I plan to stuff my face, sing songs all night and drink until I pass out. I was hoping I'd get a little bit of action from you, too." So that last part was a lie.

She didn't say anything as I printed off more of my cheap flyers. Finally, I looked up at my ice-queen. Her ears were turning red. "You're such an idiot, Sam. I'd tell you to grow up but," she scoffed and retreated towards the door, "there's no time for that, is there?"

I let her go, feeling more upset that she'd miss out on a great party than her mean words.

As soon as I had totalled fifty pages of arrows and flyers, I clicked back onto our Facebook page. The internet was working super slowly, because of the high amount of people all on it.

Finally, I was able to see that Mercedes had invited 20 other people.

70 people were going to be in the McKinley woods tomorrow.

I wasn't going to look through the list, because as long as Mercedes and some of the Glee club were there – then it was going to be fun.

I realised what was occupying my mind this whole time; and it was that my days with Mercedes were numbered.

A vow was needed to be made: **I have 2 see u at least once evry day from now!** I texted her.

Unlike Quinn, she always responded quickly. As I got up from Quinn's computer chair, my phone vibrated.

**Let's buy supplies 4 2morrow. LB in 30, Sammy Daddy:)**

I did adore her pet name for me; it was so personal and endearing, just like our friendship, if that made sense. But she didn't know that whenever she called me that, I'd feel a twitch in my nether regions at the sound of her calling me her daddy.

I didn't even try to rid ignore those thoughts now: I might as well make the most of them.

After I left Quinn's house, I went to meet Mercedes. I'd never seen so many people in the Lima Shopping Plaza before. I had to weave in and out of the crowd just to walk forward.

Like a beacon, there Mercedes was, coming out of a small convenience store beside the Lima Bean. She was stuffing a plastic bag of something into her backpack, and when she saw me jog up to her, she quickly zipped it up and shrugged into it.

"Hey. What was that?" I asked, smiling.

"It's...uh," she broke into a big grin then, and I realised I'd never seen her so excited before.

"A surprise?"

She nodded. "Yes, a surprise for you tomorrow." Before I could ask anything else, she walked past a group of preaching hippies, and continued up the road. "So all we need is to get our drink and snack on."

"Uh, yeah. Sure. Let's start with chips, a truck load, and it's gotta be-"

"Doritos? Cool Ranch?"

"Aw, baby, you know me so well." It slipped out, calling her baby. I know I've said it before, but right then, it was me calling her _my_ baby.

She saved me from awkwardness. "Maybe a few different bags for everyone else, Sam?"

"Maybe." I pulled her into a small convenience store down the road, to find that no one was working – the tills were empty. But people were still inside.

"Sam, I think people are..."

"Looting!" I yelled. "Man, I've always wanted to do this!" The shop was filled with teenagers and even a few elderly people raiding the shelves.

"Sam, are you crazy? Let's go before-"

"Cops!" I screamed, trying to look as panicked as I could.

I ran out of the building and dodged to the side as a rush of looters sprinted past me. I caught Mercedes by her hand as she was about to leave and pulled her back inside. "Idiots"

She giggled. The floor was scattered with things that should have been on shelves, and said shelves were just calling to us. Surprisingly, three elderly people remained in the shop.

"That trick won't work with us, son," a tall but slightly hunched woman said.

"Can't blame me for trying," I grinned. "Take your pick, Ma Sweet."

"Sam, I'm not gonna do this. It's wrong!"

I was incredulous: my jaw dropped open as I waved towards the senior citizens looting a convenience store. Although I was anxious and a little bit scared too, the fear was beginning to melt away.

Considering the difficult times my family went through, this was the only time when something was free and available for the taking.

I could see she was still having doubts, though.

"If I can't go crazy and take free chips from a small store with you, Cedes, then we might as well...go home or something." She bit her lip. "Can you decide now, you know, before the cops really do show up?"

Taking a deep breath in, she stole a quick kiss from the corner of my lips. It was the kind of kisses she gave to Kurt – completely friendly and nothing romantic about them.

But at the same time, it was nothing like that.

**Mercedes**

Despite my earlier reservations about looting, I had to admit, it was pretty thrilling. After grabbing around five bags of chips and dips each, with packets of cookies and brownies in our hands, we ran out of the store, laughing like naughty school kids. Which I guessed we were.

"Sam – you're just trouble. You know that?"

"Hey, it's not my fault you're so easily influenced."

I rolled my eyes, and looked around us. "What now?"

"Drinks. Hopefully people will bring candy and other stuff." He walked into the nearest liquor store, and walked right back out. "Cops," he mouthed.

We sprinted down the street, brushing past many equally excited people. Out of breath, we slowed outside another liquor store. The glass door was smashed, and people were hopping in and out of it.

"Sam-"

"I got this," he said, loading the rest of chips and dips into my already overflowing stash.

"Aw hell to -"

"Hell to the _yes_!" He winked, and jumped inside.

My insides were being wrecked by nerves. This was absolutely insane. If today was the beginning of the end, then what would tomorrow bring? Next week – what would happen then? Riots and lockdowns, maybe?

I was glad that Sam let his impulses control him when he was around me, since he had to tame himself when he was with Quinn, but I was scared that this would all be too much.

The sound of more glass shattering sounded from a few shops away. It wouldn't be too long before some law enforcement got here.

After a few long minutes, Sam hopped back out along with two boys who looked like they were no older than fourteen.

"Amateurs – they were looting _wine coolers_ alone, Cedes." He offered a green basket to me, and after I gave him a puzzled look, I tossed all of the snacks into it.

"Whoa. You don't joke when it comes to the drink, Sammy Daddy." I looked over the various bottles he had in the second basket; vodka, whiskey, coconut rum, and two cases of 12-pack beers and, in fact, wine coolers too.

Before I could say anything, he took the words right out of my mouth. "I know, I know. 'I'm so crazy'" he said, in his best imitation of my diva tone.

I laughed at him, at the bright smile he wore whenever he made me laugh.

"I think that's it. I'm gonna take inventory with the guys, make sure we got a bit of everything."

"Right. So tomorrow, meet you at around 6? And we'll get all of this set up and everything."

"Sounds like a plan, yawnetu." Occasionally, Sam would call me that in his freaky but kind of adorable Na'vi language. He refused to tell me what it was, and I didn't know how to spell it so I couldn't look it up. I always forgot about it the next day, anyway.

"Well great. I'm so excited for this! And, well, kinda sad too. And afraid."

"And you think I'm not?" I lifted the snack basket from the ground, and he snatched it from my hands. Together, we carried the much heavier one with all the alcohol. "Let me walk you," I said to him. "Did you invite Quinn?"

"Uh-huh, she said she'll think about it." I immediately knew that something bad went down. Quinn always answered questions with either a yes or a fuck you, never anything in between.

"You invited your big and bad, 'built like a bulldozer' boyfriend, yet? Try saying that five times," he muttered.

"Sam...no, not yet. I'm seeing him tomorrow so I guess that'll be the best time." He nodded, and we fell into a weird silence.

When we got to the long road that led to his family's motel he gave me a strong, one armed hug.

"Until tomorrow, Ma Sweet."

"6pm, and boy, you best not be late."

"Of course not! I got the food, drinks and flyers-"

"I got the music and everything else."

"Later, Mercedes." I waved goodbye, before turning away to go back home.

We're dying, I remembered. An big old nasty piece of rock as going to smash into the world and kill everything and everyone, in just a few weeks. A lump rose in my throat; I was going to cry and scream it out when I got home. I was so afraid of what was coming.

_Don't think about that now._

Tomorrow, I was going to get rid of all my worry and panic, fear and doubts and reservations. Just for tomorrow, I was going to use the death looming over us as a reason to have fun and go wild. You only live once, and the time to do that was running out.

Tomorrow, I was going to be brace and try to be honest with Shane about my true feelings. I didn't want to spend the last few weeks of my life being stuck in a relationship I wanted to be out of. I didn't want Shane to have to suffer, either. Although he'd be heartbroken – and that's not to say I wouldn't hurt a little too – he deserved the truth and he deserved to be free to do what he wanted.

Even if Sam's feelings for me had changed since dating Quinn, and even if he stayed with her until our very last breath before being destroyed, then at least I would be honest with myself, and hopefully God would forgive me for my dishonesty to everyone else.

I doubted Sam still liked me in that way anymore, but I loved him more than I could describe. Tomorrow, I was going to grab any moments I could and would spend them with Sam; as friends or as more than that.

But if I was going to die, then I wanted to die happy and free. And, in my own mind, I hoped I'd die in Sam's arms and him in mine, with our loved ones beside us.

Tomorrow, starting with our party set up and then the real, amazing thing, I was going to make the most out of my youth and my final time on Earth.

Tomorrow, I was going to truly appreciate what being alive meant.

**Sam**

I looked behind, and stole one final glimpse of my beautiful true love before she turned onto the next road.

_Mercedes..._

I hated myself for making things so difficult for us – I only had to tell her how I felt, and then break up with Quinn to prove my affection for her, and hope she'd reciprocate it. Yet it was the hardest thing for me to do.

The main reason I was still with my ice-queen was because I felt sorry for her. I know that's not a good reason at all, but the thought of breaking up with her gave me a sick feeling in my gut. I might not love Quinn, but I did care about her. After how much she's been through, even if a large part of it was her own fault, how could I make her final weeks of life miserable? I knew she felt something for Puck, I just didn't think he felt the same way about her.

Why should I care?

As I turned the key in the lock and walked into our small but cosy motel, I made a promise to myself.

Tomorrow: I'd try to speak to Mercedes, pour my heart out to her. Although she might not feel exactly the same way about me anymore, I knew she'd tell me what to do, and she'd comfort and reassure me.

Before I got totally wasted tomorrow night, I wanted to soberly admit the truth to both Mercy and myself. I prayed that she'd feel the same way.

_Tomorrow_, I promised to myself.

* * *

**Yawnetu = loved one**

**I did kinda feel emotional writing that last bit. ****What did you guys honestly think? I can take it.**

**BTW: this huge party - can I have some suggestions as to what should happen? What do you want/expect to go down? PM or review me your ideas. I will most likely use them, and finally get on with the longer and more eventful Chapter 4. **

**Again, thanks for following me on Samcedes' sad journey. 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, my lovely readers. The next two chapters were supposed to be one, but it was too eventful lol.**

**Please read, review and enjoy - love to hear from you guys. Let me know what you think.**

**Chapter 6 and 7 - we're definitely gonna get even more emotional breakthroughs (from Quinn too) so stick with me.**

**Again: don't own Glee or any of the songs I mention. They just inspire me. =]**

* * *

**Mercedes**

As soon as I arrived at Shane's house the next day, I knew what I had to do. I knew I was going to have to be honest and tell him the truth. I had to break up with him.

I didn't want to hurt his feelings, because he was so sweet and caring. But I wasn't going to let myself hurt for the rest of my life, either. This was the time I had to be selfish, and I hoped that by doing so, I was going to be selfless at the same time.

He immediately gathered me up in a tight bear hug, and kissed me repeatedly on the cheek.

"Hey, Shaney. Shane," I corrected; the more endearing I was, the harder this was going to be. "I just...have to talk to you about something."

"Baby, I missed you. When they announced it yesterday, I cried for you so much." That made me feel like the worst person in the world, yet again.

He led me further into his house, and it was slightly crowded with his family: some I had met before, and some I hadn't. "Is all your family here?"

He took my hand in his. "The ones that live close to us, yeah."

One of Shane's younger cousins, whom I had met before, ran into me and hugged my legs. "Cedes!" She crooned, before running into the living room.

"C'mon, I need your help with something."

"Shane, I really need to talk to you."

He looked right at me. "Let's go upstairs."

I instantly held my ground, so he couldn't lead me anywhere. Shane and I had never had sex, we only cuddled and kissed sometimes. It wasn't for his lack of trying, but he understood that I just wasn't ready for that next step.

But would anyone understand that making love to a man who wasn't Sam would break me inside? It was stupid, I know, holding out for a boy who was supposed to be my friend, who was already in a relationship. Nevertheless, going all the way with Shane felt like a cruel lie to both his heart and mine.

Was it a lie to Sam's heart, too? Was he, maybe, waiting for the day when we'd both be free to be with each other?

When Shane saw my hesitation, he spoke again. "You said you wanted to talk – it's quieter upstairs. And that's where I need to talk to you, too."

"Oh, yeah, sure." We walked down the hall, receiving gentle touches on the arm and sad smiles from Shane's relatives. When we finally got up to his quiet, warm hallway, I took a deep breath in.

"Shane, I want you to know -"

"Baby, can I go first? This is really important."

"So is this, Shane. I really-"

"I know, but-" He was interrupted by loud whimpers from the bedroom behind him; his mother's room. Shane swallowed, and tried to blink away the tears. There were too many tears for me to handle in the past 24 hours, and it felt like with each one I encountered, two more were welling up in my eyes. After composing himself for a moment, he tried again, speaking quietly. "The main reason everyone's here is to...to try to comfort Mama."

"What's wrong?"

"She's been in there since yesterday; crying and screaming and praying. She hasn't talked to any one of us, hasn't come out since."

"That's awful."

He shook his head. "I can't do this without her, Mercedes. I can't be brave if she's not here for me."

"I know, Shane. I understand."

"And she won't come out here without your help." At my confused expression, he explained. "Somehow, I know deep inside, that you can help her."

"Shane, how? If she won't respond to you, then what can _I_ do?"

"I don't know how, Cedes, but I know you can. Please, for me, just try. It's been a whole day without my mom and...there aren't many days left. Just try. Please?"

I chewed the inside of my lip. There was no way I could break his heart now, when it was already breaking. Maybe if I did this, then somehow in some kind of way, it'd make it easier for me to tell him the truth.

I walked towards the door, paused, and then knocked gently. "Miss Tinsley?" No response, apart from stifled sobs. "It's Mercedes." Still nothing. "I know it's...there's no way to describe this, Miss Tinsley. The end of our world, it's unfathomable. I mean, it's beyond our understanding, and we don't know how to handle such fear. I think that's why you can't come out – it's just too much for you." Although there was still no response, I couldn't hear her crying anymore. "And you know who else is beyond our understanding, yet we can still praise and love Him? God. He said "Let there be light" – before light, there was darkness. And now, after the light in our lives flickers out, darkness has gotta return. If this is God's plan, Miss Tinsley, then we need to accept it. Shane, here, needs you. You've got to be strong for your family, friends and for yourself. We need to do all we can to get through this, and enjoy the rest of our lives."

Shane was doing nothing to stop the tear spilling down his cheek. "Sing" he mouthed.

I needed to sing to myself, too. I wanted to reassure myself that, although what was going to happen to us was painful and scary, as long I had someone by my side, then at least death couldn't make me feel alone.

'Stand by Me' by Ben E. King was the song that reassured me.

_When the night has come and the land is dark_

_And the moon is the only light we'll see_

_No, I won't be afraid, oh, I won't be afraid_

_Just as long as you stand, stand by me_

I was leaning against her door, so she could hear me better. I sank down to my knees, and Shane crouched next to me, gripping my hand as tears streamed down his face. I sung low and gently, so she knew I was meant the words for her.

_So darling, darling, stand by me, oh, stand by me_

_Oh, stand, stand by me, stand by me_

_If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall_

_Or the mountain should crumble to the sea_

_I won't cry, I won't cry, no, I won't shed a tear_

_Just as long as you stand, stand by me_

My heart was breaking, but I continued; singing was the only thing I could do with a broken heart. I was sad because that darkness, those falling skies and crumbling mountains were really going to happen to us. I was hurting inside because I was so afraid of dying.

I was crying because Sam was the one who I wanted to stand beside when the world caves in on us. Only he could wipe away my tears and fears.

I heard footsteps on the other side of the door, and as I started to sing the final chorus, Miss Tinsley came out with a tear-streaked face and wrapped her arms around me and sang too.

_And darling, darling, stand by me_

_Oh, stand by me. Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me_

_Darling, darling, stand by me, oh, stand by me_

_Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me_

_Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me, oh, stand by me_

_Oh stand now, oh stand now, stand by me_

None of us spoke for a moment, as Shane and his mother cried. I gently pushed him towards her, and they hugged each other tightly.

"The one place I know you can find strength, Miss Tinsley, is at church. My dad said something about service every single day from now, so maybe that's where you need to go."

She nodded, and pulled away from her son. "Thank you so much, baby. I was in a dark place, but you brought some light to me."

"Maybe that's the light you need to hold onto, before...before the real darkness comes."

She nodded again, and smiled a small but natural smile. "I'm gonna freshen up, then I'll go downstairs. I'm saying a prayer for you tonight, Mercedes. Thank you."

After she walked towards the bathroom at the other end of the hall, Shane dried his tears. "That was so beautiful. You're beautiful, and your voice. Thank you so much for helping Mama and me." He went to kiss me, but I shifted so I could kiss him on his cheek. I just couldn't do that right now, because Sam was flooding my mind.

The words I had prepared to say to him were gone.

"You alright? What did you need to talk about? Sorry for that."

I shook my head. "I, uh...I know this isn't the right time but I need to...there's a party tonight. You know - a huge one. I think everyone just needs a good time right now before we have to face what's coming. Sam and I are throwing it. Will you come?" All my words ran into each other.

He smiled. "Sounds great but...I'm not really feeling like a party right now. My mom just returned to reality, and I don't wanna miss that. Have a good time, okay?"

"I will. I'd...I'd better go, Shane." I was disappointed in myself. Although I know I had to help Shane's mom and that I'd feel even worse if I broke up with him when he was already so sad, but I knew this was just going to get harder.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for a while?"

"It's okay, I've gotta help set up and..."

"Alright, baby. Be careful tonight. I'll speak to you tomorrow?"

"Sure. Goodbye, Shane."

**Sam**

I was going to kill that girl when she arrived.

After she had warned me yesterday about being late, she was the one running fifteen minutes late and counting. When I didn't see her around the corner from McKinley High, I had decided to get started without her. The one thing that had stopped me being fake-angry was the fact that it was super hot and sunny today.

With a stapler, some pins and ducktape, I began sticking the arrows to various trees that led to the clearing. I stapled a flyer between every three arrows or so.

It must have been a half hour since we were supposed to meet and I'd finally reached the sprawling clearing. Just as I reached, I heard "Sammy!"

I was glad no one was around to see the massive grin on my face at the sound of Mercedes' loud voice.

"You'll never be able to find me, those posters tell you nothing!" I continued to attach some flyers to the big oak trees lining the area.

Her footsteps were heavy as she finally crashed into the designated party area. Slightly breathless, she said "good job with the signs."

"Thanks. Some chick was supposed to come and help me out with them but, damn, she was an epic fail. Oh, wait, that was you."

She dumped her bags at my feet and threw her arms around me. I wrapped mine around my comfortable Mercedes in return. "Sorry about that, Sam. Had to go...comfort Shane and his mom. They had a bit of a break down." She wasn't looking at me as she unpacked tacky paper chains, a big pack of fluorescent neon paints and boxes of glow sticks and jewellery. "DJ Puck's on his way with the speakers and a table for everything."

"Is it really lame that I'm excited? As in, butterflies-in-my-stomach and couldn't-sleep-last-night excited?"

"If I wasn't feeling exactly the same way, then yes, it'd be lame."

We played the alphabet game of things we loved about life as we attached the paper chains to the trees and bushes.

Mercedes then took out a bag of tinsel. "Before you say anything," she said, as my mouth began to open, "we won't get to celebrate Christmas again. So yes, tinsel."

I chuckled as I draped the tinsel over the higher tree branches. "Your go, we're on X."

She wrapped the empty bags in each other as she thought. "One thing I've always loved – xylophones."

I didn't argue, because X was always a difficult one.

"Yodellers. Anyone who yodels, gotta love them."

"Aw, Mike'll be pleased."

We both laughed as we stuck a few reflectors into the ground. "Did you loot these?"

"Some of the decoration I actually paid for or I had at home. The rest, well, they were just available. Zoos."

"You love the zoo?"

"Out of all the Z words that exist, then yes." I shook my head, but accepted her answer.

It was just after 7pm, and we had started to paint on the trees with the tubes of fluorescent neon paint. We drew smiley faces, and wrote random phrases like; **don't stop the drinking (8)**_, _**is that all you can eat?!,** **YOLO** and **biggest rave of 2012!** I even painted **Samcedes rock!** on an actual rock, but didn't draw her attention to it.

Swirls, stars, hearts and exclamation points were next.

We had one tube of paint left, but for some reason, she put it in her pocket. After we cleared all of the garbage, Puck arrived with his best friend, Finn.

Together, they hauled a table with the speakers on top and Puck's laptop bag around his shoulder.

"Over here, guys," Mercedes directed, gesturing to an opening between two small trees. Once they set it down, Finn pulled her into a hug.

"So glad you're here, Finny."

"Missed you, Cedes. You know, you guys are actually awesome for doing this," he said.

"Yeah, sometimes I don't mind you being my sister," and he pinched her chin. "And you're pretty cool, Sammo."

"Ditto," and we bumped fists.

"We brought Dad's generator, and Mom's solar lights and lanterns – they've been in the sun all day so they'll light up."

Finn nodded. "And I brought a couple of huge, rechargeable torches, you know?"

Mercedes and I looked at each other. "That's amazing guys!"

"Duh," Puck said.

We all went to the truck for everything else; us guys carrying the heavy stuff and Mercedes' carrying back a duffel bag.

Once Puck and Finn had begun setting up the lighting, Mercedes told me she was going to sort her clothes out.

"Why didn't you just get changed at home?"

She pointed towards her clothes – flecked with paint and dirt. "I showered before I got here, but I knew my clothes wouldn't survive. So I'm just gonna change here. And you brought clothes too," she replied, gesturing to my bag.

"Yeah but...I'm a guy. You have several body parts you have to hide, whereas I have only one. Although it is one massive, huge, gigantic thing. Dunno if I can hide that."

She was laughing. "Are you talking about your mouth? Or your ego?"

I narrowed my eyes. "You'll pay for that."

"Yeah, yeah. Two minutes."

"Well, let me come." Her eyes widened. "Not like that. I mean...what if someone else sees you?"

"I'm just changing clothes, Sam, nothing more." She walked down a bit and turned behind a towering tree, surrounded by thick shrubs.

I looked back to the clearing, seeing the two guys hard at work, immersed in their own conversation. I picked up by bag, said "two minutes" to them and walked in the opposite direction.

As fast as I could, I changed from cargo shorts and an old t-shirt into my dark blue jeans and fitted black V-neck. Spraying some deodorant, brushing through my hair and applying some cologne, I was ready.

Walking quietly, I headed left; using the sound of Finn and Puck's voices to keep a wide berth from them. Finally, I heard movement. I hid behind a small cluster of bushes and peeked around to see Mercedes getting dressed.

I was too late.

"When did you become a pervert, Sam?"

"Since I had the opportunity," I replied, walking towards her. She was just shrugging into her black velvet waistcoat, over a pink, sparkly leopard print top which hung off her shoulders. She also wore tight black pants with her silvery 'fuck-me' heels. That's what Santana had called them once.

She slipped two feather earrings into her ears and clasped her silver 'M' pendant around her neck.

"You look good, Sam," then came a few puffs of her intoxicating perfume, and the sweet smelling lotion she always rubbed into her hands, neck and chest; so she'd smell good all over, which she always did.

"Yeah...uh, thanks." It was hard to stick my thoughts together so they'd form into words. I just kept thinking that if I had been two minutes quicker, I would have seen her... "And you look...nice." She raised her eyebrows at me. "Alright, you look fucking gorgeous, Ma Sweet. Like, incredibly hot."

She smiled. "I wasn't fishing for compliments or anything, but thank you."

I winked at her. "Let's put out the food and drinks then."

She checked her watch. "Yeah, people are gonna start turning up like, now."

Once we got back to the clearing, the guys were admiring their handiwork.

This was the first time Mercedes and I had taken a step back and looked at everything – and I only just noticed the darkening sky.

"Oh," she breathed.

"My God," I finished for her. I was never the type to praise myself but if I ever had to start, it was then.

The reflectors and fluorescent paint had already started to pick up light, and they truly did make the clearing seem ready for a rave. The paper chains and tinsel added a lot of colour to the woods. Finn had placed the generator and floodlights back into the trees, so when switched on, would provide enough light for sight but they wouldn't be blinding. The randomly placed lanterns were already beginning to glow, as were the glow sticks and jewellery. With the speakers and laptop already set up, it looked like this was going to be one hectic night.

Mercedes pulled out the remaining tube of blue neon paint and a clean paintbrush.

"The hosts have to be decorated, too." We both smiled as I crouched, and she carefully painted swirls and dots on my face and neck.

Puck and Finn gasped and sprinted over, wanting to be painted too.

As they were finally done – both with huge hearts painted around their eyes, they laughed at each other's work as they began setting up the table.

"Now you," I said. Trying to finish the bottle, I painted enough swirls, zigzags and hearts as I could without covering her entire face.

Then I carefully drew a smooth arrow, avoiding her necklace, on her chest, pointing towards her cleavage.

"Sam!" Her eyes flew open as she looked down into her chest.

"Got 'em, flaunt 'em." She would have been so mad at me. But these weren't usual circumstances, so she ended up smiling and laughing too.

Just as we finished setting out the bottles, snacks - along with the stuff Puck and Mercedes' parents bought for us - paper plates and napkins with some plastic cups, we heard squeals, laughs and shouts.

And a lot of them. It was around half eight now.

The glee club were all first to arrive – apart from Quinn, obviously and Joe. Each had brought around four chairs each, and we all went back to get the rest of them along with a mass of more food and drink from Santana and Blaine's cars.

It was a weird mix of reactions. We ran into each other's arms – boys included – and hugged and laughed. But then we remembered what it was for – all of this, all the times we shared and everything that had happened – would soon crumble. It would mean nothing, and there would be no more me, no more Mercedes and no more glee club.

So for that reason, Artie, Tina, Brittany, Rachel and Finn looked like they were going to start getting emotional. Even I had tears springing into my eyes. Santana cursed something in Spanish, while Blaine looked at his boyfriend, Kurt, through his sad doe eyes.

Mercedes pulled me towards the table, where one final bag lay. She pulled it out and thrust it into my hands. "Your surprise," she said.

**Mercedes**

I had to admit, I was jittery about his surprise. It wasn't anything special, but it was sentimental enough.

The loveliest smile erupted on his face, highlighted by the fluorescing paint on his cheeks as he looked into the bag of red Solo cups.

He pulled out the two on top; each with a piece of ribbon threaded through the rim and our names on it. He purposefully placed his cup around my neck, and mine around his.

"These. Are. Awesome!" He hugged me tight before striding towards the table. He filled some of the other red plastic cups with the unopened bottle of vodka. He poured a generous amount into each one and ushered me to help carry them over.

"Enough of the smushy stuff, guys. We all know what's gonna happen, and tonight, we all want to forget about it. Am I right?" He got a few half-hearted assents.

"He's right!" I shouted. "This is one night we can spend together and have the best time – the fact that it's the end of the world means we need to enjoy it like crazy. McKinley style!"

"Here," he said, distributing the cups. "It's just a little lemonade and a tiny splash of whiskey. Down that sugar!"

The look he gave me was entirely sneaky. I loved it.

"They're right," Blaine agreed. "To...to making the fucking best of it tonight."

"Hell yeah," everyone cheered, raising our cups. Sam and I were the only two not to swallow a big gulp of vodka.

The guys sputtered and laughed it off, while the girls coughed and rolled their tongues to get rid of the taste.

"Isn't that illegal or something?" Rachel demanded, with her nose scrunched up in distaste.

"Yeah, Sam, how dare you!" He stuck his tongue out at me, taking a brave swig of his drink. I hadn't noticed Puck and Santana breaking away from us, towards the 'DJ' set.

After a few seconds, Jamie Foxx's 'Blame It' began to blast from the speakers.

No one hesitated to dance. I danced with Kurt, and he twirled me and had me shimmying and grinding my hips to the music –and neither one of us could stop laughing. Brittany and Santana, of course, dominated the dance floor with their sexy moves.

A big crowd of people from school streamed in; none of their hands were empty. Some of the glee club ran up to them to say hello, and some of the newcomers ran up to us. I hugged Sunshine, a girl we'd not been on good terms with when she messed us about. But right now, she was just a fellow partygoer to me.

'Like a G6' then came on, and everyone screamed and began singing along with it.

"Getting slizzard!" Sugar sang in my ear, decorated in several glowing necklaces. I laughed, and pulled her into a dance. Bodies were moving and voices were swelling all around us, as the evening was melting into the early night.

After an hour, the clearing was packed with people and it was becoming stuffy as if we were indoors.

Around three vodkas, two wine coolers and a mix of whiskey and soad had entered my system and relaxed me completely. I was sharing a can a beer with Sam as we danced, and laughed at other people getting sloppy. I knew they went to our school, I just didn't know their names.

The place was now lit by the decorations we had put up but it was dark enough to eliminate caution. My mind was clear at the same time hazy, and I was enjoying it. Sam was enjoying it too, as his signature body rolls were becoming a lot sexier with every sip of alcohol.

To my surprise, someone had carried amplifiers and a microphone, so that meant singing was about to take palce. Santana quietened everyone down with "all of ya'll, get ready to feel a little tingle in your private parts, alright?" I don't know how, but she made Selena Gomez's 'Love You Like a Love Song' become sexy. Sam pulled my arms around him as his gripped my waist and we started swaying and twirling.

"Be back in a sec," he said, and pulled away from me.

Rachel quickly threw herself into my arms – probably tipsy after two wine coolers – and begged me to dance. Tina joined in too, so I span them around and attempted a three way tango. We were in stitches when the song switched to Black Kids' 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance'.

It was safe to call it night-time now, and the vibe was so strong that I didn't think the part would end.

It was only then that I noticed Sam hadn't returned yet, and none of the other guys were around either.

"No!" Some girl screamed, ringing through the entire clearing. Then I realised why.

We were pretty much surrounded by teenage boys – more than just the ones in glee club – and some had masks on, but all of them held big ass water guns in their hands.

Puck suddenly appeared at his music station and paused the song. "Damn, I wanna see some wet shirts!"

Then they ran in on us, shooting cold water on any girl they could find.

We were all squealing and giggling, as ironically, Beyonce's 'Run the World' blasted from the speakers. Only my legs had been soaked, but I knew who I had to hide from. Using one of my church friends as a shield, I listened to the protests of those being ambushed and trying to run away from the attackers.

"Cedes, you okay?" I spun around to face Sam – he wasn't wearing a mask, and his hands were empty.

"I swear, Evans, if you're setting me up..." I dodged a random stream of water, which somehow managed to get a Cheerio down her back.

"Like I'd do that." Someone swore, although they were laughing too, and I turned to look.

Freezing, powerful water was being shot right at my breasts, when down my whole body. Sam wore the most mischievous smirk I had ever seen on him as he fired the water gun.

The chill of it had stunned me, yet he continued to spray me with the cold water, aiming specifically at my chest.

Finally, he stopped, predatorily admiring his work. I lunged for him, but he had already taken off.

"Fuck you, Evans!" I ran after him; the adrenaline, the alcohol and the sugar from the candy I ate were fuelling me. He didn't hear me catch up to him, so when he slowed, I sped up. We crashed into each other, tumbling to the ground. He was laughing hard, but I was plotting. Grabbing the water gun, I roughly stuck it down his pants and pulled the trigger. His mouth opened in a frozen scream.

"Shit, shit, shit, stop! I'm s-sorry!" I pulled it out, and shot him in the chest just for good measure.

"You're damn right you're sorry," I slurred.

His eyes sliced towards me. By the shoulders, he pushed me back to lift up my top and press his soaking body against mine.

"I'm already wet, you idiot."

He raised his eyebrow. "Wet for me already, huh?" Even though he was slightly drunk, I could still see a new idea in his eyes when it formed. My eyes focused on his lips, coming closer to mine.

The only thing I knew I could do: I gripped his crotch in my hand.

He half yelled, half chuckled. "Ahh, be gentle with the big guy."

My laughing was not helping my resolve. I moved from beneath him, ruffling his hair as I did. "Crazy, Sammy Daddy."

We sat in our own little quiet for a moment, though the music and the sound of people having fun continued to pulse from behind us. "Y-you know when you call me that?"

"Call you what?" I couldn't even sit still, my body was swaying.

"Call Sam what." He laughed. "Nooo, that's me. You know when you call me-"

"Aunty Sammy?" He was laughing hysterically. "Whacky Sammy? Jammy Sammy?" I don't know why, but he was snickering like a schoolboy as I continued, and I didn't want him to stop, it was so adorable. "Mommy Sammy?" I started tickling him in his sides, and he was squirming beneath my fingers. "Sassy Sammy!"

Still laughing, he gripped my hands and pulled me to him. "Noo, Mercede-de-de-des! Be for serious."

I smiled. "Shall I tell you the real Sammy? Sexy Sammy Daddy."

"Kiss me, darlin'." I didn't hesitate, I crushed my lips to his and his tongue warmed and welcomed it immediately.

Before we could create a rhythm, the crinkling sound of our Solo cups pressing between our bodies stopped us.

"Let's get back to being drunk!" I said. We got to our feet, and he bent down so I could jump on his back for a lift.

He was able to walk; just not in a straight line and not without stumbling several times. I didn't know why this time, but he was back to laughing again.

"My wish has finally come true – Mercedes is finally riding me and I-I fucking love it!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Sam**

When we finally crashed back to the dancing crowd, Mercedes was immediately whisked away into a dance by some pretty boy – one of the dudes from Dalton Academy.

"I never got him," I said to Finn who was now slapping me on the back. "H-his name is Sebastian but he's not Jamaican. Or red."

"Or a crab," Finn said.

"Oh my God! Exactly!"

"Want some?" Finn offered his bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, and I grabbed a handful.

"You're welcome." I said.

The intro to a song I loved started playing; I stuffed the corn chips into my mouth and made a beeline for the mic.

"Cedes!" I called around a mouthful of chips.

"Here I'm not!"

I motioned for her to join me, and when she did, along with Kurt and Tina, we both began to sing 'Summer Nights' from Grease. We had sung it once already for glee, and now, we made it more interesting and steamier as we circled each other.

We must have been doing a good job, since people were cheering and singing along. Mercedes' smile and voice, despite her slurred words, were literally warming me. She was so beautiful and sounded so beautiful too.

She winked at me, and carried on singing.

Finally, when the song was over, a similarly drunken Mike scooped me over his shoulder and span around until he couldn't even stand.

"Amateur," I teased. I followed the lights to the edge of the clearing, away from the dense crowd, and leaned against a tree, drinking a cup of water the Irish Rory brought to me.

There was a soft tap on my shoulder. It took me a long few seconds to focus on the face; to recognise it and put a name to it. "Quinny, baby!"

She smiled, pulling me in for one hot kiss. "Sorry about before," she purred.

"Nah it's...I don't even remember it."

I folded her into my arms as we swayed to a song I couldn't name.

Lauren was walking by, offered me a drink from what was supposed to be a bottle of whiskey, but looked like a mix of other things. So, of course, I took a swig.

"That's disgusting!" I swallowed two more gulps before finally handing it back to her.

"That's what I like to see", and we high-fived. "Quinn?"

She shook her head no. "Y-you not gonna have fun?" I asked.

"I'm having fun with you, Sam," and she went on her tiptoes to give me a lingering kiss. "I love you so much."

I kissed her back, unwilling to say the words. We carried on slow dancing, and when I lifted my head from her hair, I saw Mercedes swaying in Santana's arms. Finally, she looked up and our eyes met across the throng of people. There was no mistaking the hurt in her eyes, and I wondered if she only mirroring me.

Suddenly, Kurt and Brittanny ran up to us, gathering all the glee kids. "Come on," Brit whined, "we gotta play Spin the Bottle!"

"Or Truth or Dare!"

I pulled Quinn along with me as we all headed a few trees away from the brightly coloured party.

We all collapsed around an empty glass bottle.

"Okay – since this whole thing was my idea, I spin first!"

The bottle conveniently landed on Santana, and before anyone had the chance to say "Truth, kiss, or dare" Brittany had quickly pulled her in for a long kiss as everyone exchanged looks.

"Alright, alright, it's my turn now." Mercedes spun the bottle this time, and it landed on Artie.

She smiled. "So: truth, kiss or dare?"

"I have a feeling everyone's gonna be kissing all night, so I...hell, I still pick kiss. Bring those luscious lips over here!"

Everyone, except me, cheered as Mercedes wheeled him closer and their lips connected. Blaine shouted for more, and I swear I saw one of their tongues shoving into the other's mouth. "My go!" I announced, yanking Mercedes away.

"Call me sometime," Artie winked.

The bottle landed on Puck. "Don't even say the word kiss."

I smiled. "Alright then. Truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Hmm...I dare you to...drink a straight mix of vodka and whiskey, and then take another drink and share that mouthful with Sugar."

Eyes widened and some of them nodded and smiled in agreement.

He looked at her, as if sizing her up, and she shrank back. "Let's do it!"

Sugar beamed but also looked kind of worried. Our amateur bartender, Lauren, smirked as she poured some whiskey followed by vodka into a cup. "Your poison."

Puckerman quickly tossed back the violent mix and swallowed. "Fuck, that hurts!" Rory was grasping at his sides, laughing at the look on Puck's face.

"You're gonna love and hate this," Puck warned in a low voice. Taking another big gulp, he kept it in his mouth and leaned closer to Sugar, as she reluctantly moved closer to him. We all watched on as their lips connected, and drips of the alcohol mix escaped as Puck transferred his drink to Sugar's mouth.

"And you have to swallow," Quinn instructed. Sugar's eyes widened in horror, with Puck's lips still on hers. She squeezed her eyes and swallowed it, trying to clear her throat of the taste.

"Okay, I think that was kind of Sugar's dare, too."

"I agree with Mercedes," I said.

"That was just nasty. Not the kiss, Puck."

He winked at her. "You spin, sweet Sugar."

I was starting to notice that Mike and Rachel kept looking at me, then at Mercedes and then at each other. Was I starting at her? I admit, the arrow I drew down to her delectable breasts kept catching my attention.

There were a lot of dares, over the next thirty minutes; like Tina licking beer off Blaine's back, Kurt spinning in circle for thirty seconds and Finn stripping out of his shirt. But any truths were serious ones; when was Tina and Mike's first time, what was it about Mr. Schuester that had attracted Rachel, if Blaine was a top for bottom and if Quinn enjoyed my lips. I looked over at Mercedes for that one, and she mouthed "I would" and I smiled.

There were only a few kisses exchanged, and one adventurous one between Mike and Kurt. We all began to get restless, so as main party planner, Mercedes span the bottle one final time.

Only now, whoever the bottle landed on, they had to do a dare, kiss _and_ truth. The guys leaned forward, hoping the bottle would land on them.

But of course, it would have to land on me. I was both nervous and ecstatic about it.

"Thank God," Mike drunkenly whispered. "Can I give this dare, Cedes?" She nodded yes. "It's for the both of you. So I've been melting this piece of chocolate in my hands, and I'm gonna drop one piece of it into Mercy's top. You, Sam my man, have to take it out with your mouth!"

I was about to protest, before almost everyone whooped and cheered.

"Do I get a say in this?" Mercedes asked: just for appearances though, because the look in her brown eyes told me she was all for it.

"Nope," everyone in the circle replied.

"Ugh, I can't watch this," her adopted brother, Puck, said, and wandered away.

"I'll keep him company," Quinn so kindly offered. "No sex, okay?" She smiled, and hopped up to catch up with him. Although basic boyfriend instinct told me to care and feel jealous, the reality erased the nerves and left pure ecstasy instead.

"Piece of cake," I said.

Mike carefully dropped a square of melting chocolate down her top, and she shook her head. "If you bite me, I'mma slap you."

"Yes, ma'am," I whispered. Using her shoulders as support, I lowered my mouth down to her cleavage, inhaling her sweet scent, before my lips moved to find the chocolate. A tiny trail was smeared down the middle so I licked that as I tried to find it.

"Ew!" She called, but I could feel her breathing increase. She was loving it. Finally – unfortunately – my teeth grazed the chocolate piece. Placing one secret kiss between her breasts that only we knew about, I gripped the chocolate between my teeth and pulled back to show everyone.

"That was...a bit of a turn on," Santana admitted.

"Well played guys," Rachel said. "Now, for the kissing part."

With the chocolate on my lips, I pressed our mouths together. She began licking and sucking the sweetness from my lips, and pretty soon, my tongue snaked into her mouth. Electricity was literally pulsing though the alcohol in my system, and my heart was going crazy. Even when I was drunk, Mercedes could murder me with her ways. I'd never felt so turned on from a kiss – not even with Quinn.

"Now for the truth, guys!" Kurt clapped his hands. We pulled away, avoiding each others eyes.

I sat back in my original position, waiting for this truth. I think both the dare and the kiss had set up this next question. Everyone leaned in, and Mike and Rachel kept their voices low as to not be heard by Puck and Quinn.

"Do you guys like each other?" They asked.

Both Mercedes and I looked away. Just that response would have answered the question.

Fuck it, what did I have to lose now? If I couldn't confess my true feelings when the world was going to end, then when could I? I wasn't a coward!

**Mercedes **

Why shouldn't I tell them the truth? Tell Sam the truth? Nothing was stopping me – apart from having a boyfriend. But this was glee – my family and best friends. They'd keep my secret.

And Quinn wasn't here, so why not?

"I've liked Sam since we met," I answered. "Not as a friend, I mean...kinda loved him. And I still do, even after Shane. But I can't break up with him. I mean a lot to him and he does to me. Don't think Sam feels the same anyway but why shouldn't I stop lying?"

**Sam**

Ignoring the effect of drinking which poured over her words: she had said it. I blinked several times, hoping it would sober me up for a moment.

I saw tears in some of the girls' eyes.

"How do you feel, Sam?" Finn asked from beside me.

I had to keep myself in check: my inebriation would make me scream and confess to everyone that I loved her back, with every single part of me. With every beat of my heart, it pulsed love out to this sweet, kind, beautiful, giving, sexy girl._ Ma Sweet, my Mercedes_. I'd break up with Quinn right now, but I was scared that when I woke up tomorrow, I'd have imagined the whole thing.

"I-I..."

"Sam?" Tina and Rachel demanded, anger swelling in their voices.

I was regretting that last vile cocktail Lauren had mixed for me, along with the non-stop Jolly Ranchers I had eaten. It was causing a sick feeling in my stomach, and the inebriation was trapping my words like honey does to a fly. "I, um..." Why the fuck couldn't I just say 'Yes, I love Mercedes more than any one of you can imagine, and I plan to spent the rest of my numbered days with this amazing girl.'

"I..."

"It doesn't matter, Sam. I just wanted you to know. I'm g-gonna get back." She stumbled up to her feet, and headed back towards the clearing, followed by silently fuming Rachel, Santana, Blaine and Mike.

And I watched her walk away from me, letting her believe that I didn't feel the same way when I felt more than that. I loved her more than our love combined.

I didn't want to die at all, but I didn't want to die without her.

"Way to go, Sam." Kurt and Brittany followed the others.

"We're not gonna breathe a word of this to Quinn," a more sober Tina told me, "but don't you dare speak to Mercy unless you're gonna tell her the truth."

Finn patted my back once she'd walked away. "Dude...there aren't many chances left." Then he leaned away and threw up everything he consumed in the past couple of hours.

I didn't know if it was just me, but there air became colder.

"No one's even gonna remember this tomorrow, Sam." I was glad Lauren was at least on my side, though I didn't deserve it. "Apart from you, obviously." So that didn't last long.

"And Mercedes," Sugar added.

Just those two words sobered me up, and forced me to get drunk all over again.

**Mercedes**

I ate and drank and sang to forget that the Earth was going to be destroyed in a matter of weeks.

I revelled in the night just to ignore the worry and pain inside me from wearing my heart on my sleeve, only to have it torn and thrown away.

Although I laughed at, well, I don't know what; Sam and the heartbreak he caused never left my mind.

The last thing I remember was being held against someone's strong, warm chest.

* * *

There were no words to describe the dryness of mouth and throat when I woke up the next day, and I could feel an ache in my neck. Apart from a slight uneasiness in my stomach too, I was feeling alive.

Glaring sunlight crashed onto me, creating a minor ache behind my eyes.

I lethargically lifted my head from someone's lap. I was facing two car seats – I was in the back of a car. Wiping my face and eyes, I turned, and looked up at Blaine, whose bright eyes were also fluttering open.

"Finally awake, huh?" His voice was extremely raspy.

"What?"

"I woke up several times, just to see that you were still sleeping. Soundly, of course." He smiled, and pressed a bottle of water to my lips as I sat up.

I gratefully gulped it down, feeling a little bit better. "God bless you, thanks for that."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Thanks for the blow job last night."

I literally choked on the drink. Before I even had the chance to respond, Tina turned back from the passenger seat, grinning. "You don't even remember that do you?"

"I...I what? Please, God, no!"

They both burst into laughter, though Blaine had to rub his fingers into his temples. "It hurts to laugh but that was so worth it."

Realising they were joking, I rolled my eyes. "I can't even come up with a response rude enough." We heard someone gently snore in the driver's seat.

"Mike's literally dead to the world," Tina commented. "Bless him. That was the first time he's ever been drunk, you know?"

"What about Rachel's not-so-lame party that one time?" Blaine asked, gently rubbing my arm.

"He was tipsy, but he didn't pass out like he did this time."

"Bless his little soul," I said. "Where's everyone else?"

"You mean the big crowd of people that turned up last night?"

"No, Tee, our friends?"

"Oh. Well, with Quinn being sober and all, she drove Artie and Rory home. Then she came back for Finn, Rachel and Puck. He's staying at Finn's house, I think."

"Sugar's chauffeur, can you believe it, picked her up and drove Brit and Santanna home too," Blaine added.

"And I think Lauren, Kurt and Sam," Tina said the last person in a quiet voice, and even Blaine looked out of the window, "are in the car behind us."

I didn't know why yet – I was waiting for memories to rush at me soon – but knew that I didn't really want to see Sam right now.

"Was it a good night last night?" I worriedly asked.

My two good friends exchanged a look between them. "Mercy..." Blaine started. "It was so amazing."

"Everyone had the best time, Mercedes. I actually wanted to thank you. Both Mike and I...we've been pretty depressed since they told us about the whole end of the world thing. We just wanted to forget it for one moment."

Blaine nodded. "Same here. And both you and...Sam did that for us. We love you so much."

"I love you guys, too."

There was movement from the front seat. "See, we can all say 'love you', why couldn't Sam say it to Mercy?" Mike muttered.

We all awkwardly pretended that Mike hadn't spoken. I pretended that I hadn't poured my heart out to Sam last night, in front of everyone, only to have my affection wiped away by his silence.

"That's your car, right Blaine?" I asked, gesturing to the silver car in front of us.

"Yeah. Let's get you home. Tina already packed up your stuff from last night, so we're good to go."

As we stepped out of the car, I stopped my Tina's window. "Thanks for that, Tee."

She kissed me on the cheek. "Always. And, uh...if..."

"Yeah?"

She looked back at the car behind us. "Have a good day."

It was something to do with Sam, obviously. But I wasn't ready to face him. I knew I was wasting time, since the days were so precious now, but I was more afraid of learning what had happened to our friendship last night, and less afraid for the asteroid just wrecking everything for us.

* * *

**So...we finally got there. Well, almost =D**

**What did you guys think? Please review and let me know, I crave your opinions.**

**Not much else to say really - Chapter 6 should be up at some point. If you have any ideas or anything, then please tell me.**

**I think I said who sung all the songs that played at the party, but if not, then just ask =]**

**Thank you, my beautiful readers!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Please read. Please review (I really wanna read what you have to say.) Please enjoy.**

**Still not owning Glee, or any of the songs or movies I mention. They just make for great fan fic. **

**Just wanted to say thank you to all my followers and readers, appreciate you all! And erchills in particular - making me smile and keep at it =]. **

**Jo the [Guest] too, the best. Thanks to all you guys, though. Love ya! **

**Anyways: Chapter 6. Kind of emotional and stuff but we need that, right?**

* * *

**Sam**

She never heard me last night. Or she just didn't remember. Either way, though, this was my fault. I was way too stupid and too late.

I had made sure that none of the glee members were around, so they wouldn't get mad at me again, before I approached Mercedes.

"Sam," she whispered. I wrapped my arms around her, and she sank into me. I half carried, half led her back to the street.

I hadn't ended up drinking again, like I'd intended. _I_ was the one who hurt _her_ feelings, and I didn't deserve to forget that.

Once we got out of the woods, I saw Blaine and Kurt making out against Blaine's car.

Kurt saw us, and pulled away from his boyfriend. "What are you doing?" I couldn't look either one of them in their eyes – the guilt was just too heavy.

"She should sleep."

"She can sleep in my car," Blaine suggested.

"I was…I was gonna go with her. Like – like she could, uh, sleep on me or something. Don't want her to be on her own."

The couple looked at one another.

"Sam," Kurt started, "I'm calling it a night for Blaine anyway. And don't you think it's the best option?" There was no denying it. I didn't know how much Mercedes would remember of tonight or how she'd feel about me after what had happened. If I was the first person she saw when she woke up, would it just make things worse?

I nodded. "Just, um, let me take her? Please?"

Blaine opened his car in agreement.

Helping her to the back seat, she sadly looked at me. "Sorry I got drunk." I reached for the painkillers in my pocket, and spotted a bottle of water in the door compartment.

"Why, darlin'?" Placing two pills on her tongue, I brought the water to her lips. I didn't want her head to ache when her heart may be in agony too.

After consuming the pain relief, she said "didn't mean to tell you the truth, if that hurt you."

A thick lump rose in my throat. "Don't you dare be sorry for feeling that way. I – I thought if I told you how much I love you and why I do and for how long I have; I thought I'd scare you away, that you didn't love me as much as I do. You really are everything to me. You're my entire world – _you're_ the world I don't this asteroid to destroy."

She wiped away my tears, and I kissed her wherever the paint didn't touch. When I finally brushed my lips against hers, she fell asleep.

Now, the next morning, I was watching her leave with Blaine.

It wasn't going to stay this way for too long. I was going to fix things.

After Kurt and Lauren finally woke up, I drove them close to their houses before heading home. I had a hot shower, brushed my teeth and slept until half 2pm.

I was so deeply asleep that I didn't dream or hear anyone else in the apartment.

It took Stacy climbing over my back to finally bring me back to the world.

After a lame attempt at speaking, I cleared my throat and spoke again. My voice was still croaky, though. "Stace."

"Your friend's here. We were calling you for ages."

I dragged a hand over my face. "Alright. I'll be right down." Just as I was about to ask who it was, I noticed how she was chewing the inside of her cheek. "What, Stace?"

"I'm gonna miss you, Sammy."

"Where am I g…?" My heart broke all over again – my cute and amazing little brother and sister were going to die, too. "Oh, Stacy." I pulled her onto my lap and held her tight; nestling my chin into her soft hair. "You're the best sister in the entire world, you know that? The most pretty, too."

Into my shoulder, so her words were muffled, she said "love you, Sam. You and Stevie are the best brothers ever."

I loved her to bits, I didn't want to scare her even more by crying. "But we still have a lot of time left for me to be a pain in the neck, okay?" I felt her shake from giggling. Placing a kiss on her head, I said "now move your butt, let me get ready." She scowled at me, before it brightened into a smile and she skipped out of my room.

Stretching for what felt like five minutes, I went into our bathroom to wash my face and mouth. I combed my fingers through my hair as I walked into the living room. My mom was in the kitchen with Stacy at her side, making lunch, while my dad and Stevie watched a countdown of the greatest moments in history. It was a more cheerful reminder that we were currently on course with death.

And Mercedes was sitting on the armchair next to them. I wondered if it was the suddenly loud and insane beat of my heart that caught her attention or maybe it was the screaming thoughts inside my head. She didn't smile, but the warmth in her eyes was enough to welcome me.

"Forgot how to speak, son?"

I shook my head to try and shake myself out of staring. "Dad, please."

He chuckled as he continued watching the television screen. Neither me nor Mercedes spoke, but our eye contact didn't break once. The air between us was charged with all the pain and love and uncertainty in the world.

Mom walked over to her with a plastic bag and two bottles of water in her hands.

"You really didn't have to, Mrs. Evans," Mercy said, in her sweet voice.

"I wanted to, sweetie. It's the least I could do." She walked over to the couch, and tapped my dad on the shoulder. When he looked up, she motioned towards their bedroom.

"Oh!" Dad breathed. "Come on, troublemakers."

As my mother passed me, she poked me hard in the back. She frowned at my hands stuffed in my pockets. I immediately folded them behind me.

With that, my family left me and Mercedes alone.

"Hey Sam."

There was no bitterness or hurt in her voice, so I sat in front of her on our small coffee table. "Hey, Mercy."

"It's nice out. Thought we could just, you know…"

I had to force myself to stay in my seat – I would have hugged and kissed her right then. "Wanna go back to McKinley forest? Clean it up a bit?"

I thought she'd hate the idea, and I regretted suggesting it. But she smiled. "Sounds good to me."

**Mercedes**

I don't know what had changed, exactly. But after thinking it over, and with snippets from last night rushing into my mind, I realised I was being stupid.

Then my heart decided to take over. I couldn't, and did not want to be away from Sam anymore. I didn't want to avoid him, or be mad at him.

And we had vowed that we would see each other every single day, right up until the end. I didn't want to break that promise, or complicate things.

That's why I went over to his family's apartment without a second thought.

When we got out of my car in front of McKinley forest, I took out the roll of black plastic bags and a bucket of cloths he brought with us. There was no real need to clean up the clearing, but it was something productive.

We each grabbed a bag and began stuffing it with all the empty cups, wrappers and cheap decoration.

I placed a glow necklace around my neck, and a bracelet around my wrist, while I tossed the others in the bag; they were fading already, anyway.

Sam and I worked in silence, around the clearing, and eventually we met up again in the middle. Both of us had filled two bags.

"Mercy…you wanna talk about last night?" He asked, tying up all the bags.

"Twenty questions?"

Sam was quick to begin. "Do you hate me?"

I wasn't even taken my surprise by his abrupt question. "I love you."

I heard him exhale, and I smiled as I brushed away crushed chips with my foot. "Say how you feel about me again?"

Although it was feeling like a distant dream melting away from my memory, I vaguely remembered his confession.

"You remember?" He asked.

"Can't answer my question with another, Sammy Daddy." I saw his smile widen at the sound of his nickname. It faded as he approached me, and so did mine as he kneeled down.

"I know I hesitated last night. But I knew the guys would have to tell Quinn what I said to say to you. It was too…intense, Cedes. But will you let me say it now?"

"That counts as a question."

One side of his mouth pulled up in a boyishly crooked grin. But then his facial expression turned serious again. "How crazy would I have sounded when I said I love you with all the love I have in me? From when we first became friends, Mercy, being around you felt like I was being around the sun, being at the beach with the sweetest ice cream cone. Being with you felt like taking one long breath after being underwater for too long. And whenever we were away from each other, I ended up remembering the last time I saw you, or thinking about when I'd see you next. You're kinda on my mind every single day. I tell my dad all about you, because he understands. And no matter how much you love me and care about me, there's no way you'll ever know just how much I adore you, Mercedes."

My heart stopped, unable to beat the way I was unable to speak. I sank down to my knees to face him.

"My question: do you really mean that Sam?"

He nodded, slowly. "Sometimes I'm scared that all this affection for you is unhealthy, Mercy. But I just don't care." He gave a self-deprecating chuckle.

"Sam – I'm not able to say such beautiful words back to you." He lowered his head. With the tips of my fingers on his chin, I made him look at me. "But know that I feel exactly the same way. I know I'm with Shane, but I think even God forgives me for that, because He knows the infinite love I have for you is pure and…crazily intense. Beautiful."

The look in his eyes was too much for me; I was weak beneath his strong gaze. I looked at the spot just below his eyes instead. "Samuel," he closed his eyes at my use of his full name, "I'd rather die right now than not be able to love you. Loving you is actually a gift to me. And I'm happy now; I know that when this Earth will – will crumble around me, and kill me, my heart will be looked after by you."

He swallowed hard, trying to keep himself in check. "You're a liar. You said you didn't have pretty words to say back to me."

I helplessly shrugged my shoulders. "Your fault for being so...Sam."

"You have my heart too. You know that, right?"

"Now I do," I replied. That was when I noticed the small boulder behind him. It was hard to make out the words from here, because it was too bright for the paint to show, but I was able to read it. "Samcedes rock?"

He jumped, and looked behind him. "Oh, yeah. I thought that was pretty cool."

"Aww.'_My love for Sammy resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary_.'" He gave me a confused look. "Wuthering Heights? By Emily Brontë? Well, amended by Mercedes Jones."

He shook his head. "That was beautiful but…quoting literature? Kinda lame."

"Oh, and rock puns are cooler?"

Sam narrowed his eyes. "Totally." He pressed his lips to mine, and grasped both of my hands in his. "Tell me something I don't know." He said, bringing us both back to our feet.

"What do you mean?" We tossed the bags off to the side, and I grabbed the bucket as we made our way to the urban stream a few minutes away.

"Like…something you've had to hide from me, because you, you know, it wasn't appropriate to share."

We approached the steam. I didn't know what he meant but I tried to think of something anyway. Heat flooded my neck and cheeks as one particular moment came to me – I think this was what he wanted to hear about.

"Once…I had a…remember when we had to do The Rocky Horror Picture Show? And you had to wear those tiny gold shorts?"

He solemnly nodded. "Could never forget."

"And remember when you joined the swim team? And Mr. Schue made us watch you once, for support?" When he nodded, with a confused expression on his face, I continued. "Well, using those times combined, I sort of had a…sex dream about you."

Sam's eyes widened to the size of moons. "Seriously? Can you describe it to me?"

"We're still playing twenty questions," I said, dipping the bucket into the cold water. "So you can only ask one question at a time."

He grunted. "Fine."

"You tell _me_ something that you've had to hide."

Although his cheeks and ears burnt to red, and he nervously ran a hand through his hair, he didn't hesitate in responding. "I had a wet dream about you once."

"Is that so? Well-"

"That's not it."

I waited for him to continue as we walked back to the clearing with the bucket of cool water between us. "It was so strong that I, well…you already know how I worship Avatar and my imagination is a bit powerful…."

"You had an Avatar fantasy about me, Sam?" I smiled and breathed a chuckle. "Well-"

"Still not it." He smiled at my surprise. "It was so strong that I kind of had to…get it out of my system."

"Meaning…?"

"I had to please myself," he blurted, so his words tumbled over each other.

"Say that again."

He clenched his jaw and glared at me. "I. Masturbated. Over. You."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry or smile or reassure him.

"Why do you look so angry about it?" I asked instead, while I worked on my reaction.

"Because I don't want you to get angry at me."

I looked over at him. "Sam, I'm not angry. Why would I be? I feel kind of…flattered. Glad, even. Shows how much you really do like me."

"_Love _you," he corrected.

"Well, exactly. Even if we're in relationships, so we can't do anything _together_, I'm glad that you still wanted to. Does that make sense?"

He nodded. "You know what part I'm most proud of?"

"What's that?"

His smirk was back. "The fact that I didn't even need to physically see you or have a picture with me. I got hard just by thinking about you, Ma Sweet."

There was no need to think about my reaction now: I laughed, and he did too. "You're insane."

"Of course I am," he said with a grin. We used the bucket of water to wash away any vomit and spilled paint. We decided to leave the reflectors, the paint on the trees and the lanterns in the forest in case any one else wanted to party.

Finally, we sat side by side against our rock. From my backpack, I pulled out the container of pasta salad his mother made for us, along with two forks.

"She would do that, wouldn't she?" Sam asked, taking a fork from my hand. "I have another idea. How about we say what we've always wanted to do? Like, take turns. No shame, no nothing. Then after that, we ask one final question to each other. Deal?"

I smiled, and couldn't help my excitement as I nodded.

**Sam**

There was no denying that she was perfect for me. Mercedes always wanted to join in with my sometimes strange and random ideas. She understood the context of my movie or comic book references, even if she never understood what they meant.

Not once did she ever question things I wanted to do. As long as I was happy, then she was on my side.

I never got what soul mates were, or what it meant to be one, but even so; I knew that Mercedes was mine.

The end of the world didn't seem so dark, scary or lonely anymore with her beside me.

"I'll go first: can I feed you?" She asked.

I drew my eyebrows down. "That…that was kind of my first question." That wasn't true, but now that she said it, I didn't want to miss out on the chance. We smiled as we took turns feeding the other pasta, tomatoes, lettuce and chicken strips.

"My go," I said, after accepting the final mouthful she offered to me. "Can I feel your boobs?"

She froze as she was about to open her mouth for her final bite. "What?"

"Not sexually. God, Mercy, get your mind outta the gutter." I brought the forkful closer to her mouth, gesturing for her to eat it. When she did, I said, "I've always wanted to know what they feel like. Like I said, not in a sexual way. But they look so soft, I've just wanted to know. Is that weird?"

Once she finished chewing, she said "of course that's weird, Sam. But when are we ever not? Five seconds."

I dropped my mouth open, and pulled the best outraged face I could. create "I thought you loved me? Ten seconds."

"What?!

"Or an hour, it's up to you."

She rolled her eyes – confusingly, it was a gesture she only did when she was happy with me – and smiled. "Ten seconds, Sam. And -"

"Go!" I brought my hands to her breasts and squeezed them. Damn, they were soft, just like I figured, but firm too. Even with my large hands and long fingers, I couldn't quite grip their entirity. They were amazing – not that I've felt a lot in my lifetime, but compared to Quinn's, they were something special. It was like my fingers were sinking into two, silk-wrapped mounds of liquid honey.

"That was eleven," she said, and with a heavy heart, I released her. "Oh my God, you actually look upset." Yet she laughed at me.

"If you'd just had the brief experience that I had, and waited so long for it, then you'd be sad to let go, too."

Mercedes shook her head again. "Since we're groping each other, can I feel your abs?"

"Oh God, yes. I'm not gonna deprive you of that privilege, Cedes. Won't even give you a time limit either." I yanked up my shirt, relaxing back against our rock, and watched as she leaned closer.

Her hands were smooth and warm on my stomach, and I felt as she ran her hands up in several strokes.

"What are you doing?"

She looked up at me. "What?"

"I'm not a dog, you know." I wrapped my hands around her wrists, and guided her hands in all directions so she'd feel every inch of muscle. "There's a right way to do it, you see." Finally, I released her hands. I closed my eyes as I felt her hands roam over, explore and examine my six-pack.

Too soon, her hands stilled, and she withdrew them. "The muscles are so hard but…the skin's so smooth too. Feels good."

"Perfect evaluation," I said, still resting against the rock.

She pulled my shirt back down. "It was kind of distracting. me"

"Mercy, if you wanna feel them again-"

"Don't want to spoil the memory" she explained. "Your turn again."

I thought for a second. "I can't come up with any more ones that mean I can touch you." She giggled. "But I've always wanted to sing and dance with you agan. Just us"

"Really?" I nodded. "What do you wanna sing?"

"Remember when we sang that Gym Class Heroes song?"

"Stereo Hearts? Yeah, that was so sweet."

"Can we sing that? I can't remember how it starts now."

She reached into her pocket for her phone, and after tapping some keys, it started to play.

_My heart's a stereo_

_It beats for you so listen close_

_Hear my thoughts in every note, oh, oh_

_Make me your radio, and turn me up when you feel low_

_This melody was meant for you, so sing along to my stereo_

I took her hands, pulling ourselves up, as I started rapping as she harmonized. We danced and sang together, I twirled her around as the song played at our feet. From my pocket, I pulled out her crinkled red cup from the day before. "I know it seems kind of lame, but I had to keep it until I saw you again."

Unwilling to get all emotional again, she stopped the song, and began playing another. But she didn't know that singing this song was bringing the tears back faster.

_Now a red Solo cup is the best receptacle_

_For barbecues, tailgates, fairs and festivals_

_And you, sir, do not have a pair of testicles_

_If you prefer drinking from glass_

With the last two lines, she brushed her hand against my crotch and winked: I didn't know whether to laugh or kiss her. Instead, I sung the next verse.

_A red solo cup is cheap and disposable_

_And in 14 years they are decomposable_

_And unlike my home, they are not foreclosable_

_Freddie-Mac can kiss my ass. Woo!_

I didn't know how Mercedes could twist a good ol' country song into one with soul, but she did. With her small hand on my shoulder, she added her deep and sensual harmonies to my words. I couldn't help grinning at her, at the way our voices both contrasted and melted together like sugar and butter. We sang the whole song together, exchanging lines and dancing around each other. Anyone would have thought we were crazy – which we sort of were – but neither one of us cared even a little bit.

When the song ended, I pulled her into my chest for the tightest, longest hug.

"I love you, Ma Sweet."

"And I love you, Sam." That was the first time either one of us just said the words straight and out loud. We separated, and took the garbage and everything we carried back out to the street.

I had to ask the question that was staring me in the face. "Final questions?"

She agreed, as we carried the bags to the nearest trashcan.

"Why are you still with Shane?" Her head snapped towards me. "Why are we torturing ourselves? I don't get it." She sighed, before getting into the driver's side of the car.

"I know we're being stupid. There's…no reason to keep doing this," she admitted. "Soon, everything's gonna be over anyway. But…every time I try to break up with him, something stops me. It's like something's telling me not to. I can't be the one to break his heart when everything's already breaking around him. I know that's selfish…" I couldn't say anything. I don't know why, but I felt hurt inside. "But I promise you – even if it's tomorrow or a week from now; I am going to stop hiding and avoiding the truth. He's a good guy. A great guy, and he deserves to be told the truth. Right? But even if I spend just one glorious day being yours…then I will die happy, Sam."

And just like that, the ache wasn't aching anymore. I brought her hand to my lips, and kissed her knuckles as if each and every one was her heart.

"But you're still with Quinn, too."

I pressed my forehead into the back of the hand. "I know. Something's going on with Quinn, right now. Who knows what. One day, she's the loving girlfriend and the next, she hates my guts. She's either not telling me something, or is waiting for me to figure it out. But she doesn't have my heart, Cedes. I don't share a soul with her. That's all you. And I just have to see you every single day until the last, and breathe in your scent until it's my last one. If the asteroid left just me on this earth, I'd gladly die anyway, so you'd be my last ever memory."

She gently punched me in my chest. "You're so poetic and passionate. My knees are literally weak. And I feel the exact same way…"

"But?"

She sighed, avoiding my eyes. "I believe you, I believe everything you said. And I know you believe me." I nodded yes. "But…until we free ourselves, and let Quinn and Shane go, then…we haven't proven how we feel."

Yes, her words were like a knife in my chest, but she was completely right. It was cowardly, what we were doing. And I should have taken the lead.

I didn't understand why I didn't.

**Mercedes**

I still had one more question. But I couldn't ask it.

I had to ask it.

I couldn't ask it. I needed to know.

But I couldn't ask it - I couldn't ask whether he and Quinn have ever slept together – have ever…made love.

It was out of line, it was too personal. Those were the reasons I wanted to give myself.

Truthfully, the reason was; I was just so scared of the answer being 'yes'.

* * *

***Pardon any mistakes***

**Chapter 7 will bring more drama, I promise, because Quinn will be in it; it's gonna be set a week later. **

**What did you guys think? Please review, would really appreciate it =]**

**And thanks for sticking with me! I don't know about you, but now, I want more drama, and more, ahem, intimacy =]**


	7. Chapter 7

**First: big shout out to erchills, my new friend and fan. She's amazing. And Jo [Guest] and SmcdsShipper19, love you two insanely. All of their support is incredible.**

**By the way: the first chapter was just a snaphot. It doesn't actually happen when I said it did, it was to summarise things. It'll happen though.**

**Please read, enjoy, share and review. I need your opinions.**

**I love every single one of my followers, reviewers and readers, honestly. Thank all of you so much.**

[Still not owning Glee]

**A week later**

**Sam**

The past week was completely hectic. It was like something you'd only encounter in a book or in a movie.

People were rioting. Not just a little looting here and there, like that first day. People were in a real mad panic; trying to take full advantage of the laxness in security across the city. I'm talking about burning buildings, overturned cars and trucks, extreme looting – all of this erupted literally everywhere. Public transport came to a halt because it was either too dangerous or the workers literally just up and left their jobs.

The fear of dying just gave people more energy to destroy things. I guess it was their grasp at control – if this asteroid was going to destroy all of us, then we wanted to destroy everything else first.

And some of the law enforcement decided that they weren't going to waste their last weeks of life trying to keep citizens – who were simply scared and anxious – in line. But a few dedicated officers and people in the militia kept at it; doing their best to remain calm and help others to do the same.

The scariest thing was the weather. It turned volatile all of a sudden: it was stormy one day, hot like the dessert the next. We even had a few flakes of snow yesterday, before it somehow melted into heavy rain. People blamed it on this asteroid – that with it's increasing proximity, it was somehow affecting the climate.

It was complete chaos.

But in chaos and insanity, there's always calmness and sanity somewhere.

And I found that, and security, in my awesome and protective parents.

I found care in my beautiful, younger siblings.

I found support in my relatives.

I found comfort and compassion in my friends; in the glee club especially.

I found normalcy with Quinn, since her mood swings and my inability to break up with her made life normal, as if there was no asteroid hurtling towards us.

And the best of all; I found love, life and a reason to face up to death in Mercedes.

**Mercedes**

I was doing my best to ignore the outside world.

This past week as all about spending it with my family, my girls, my guys and my Sam.

And Shane, too. Though I didn't love him, he was still an amazing friend.

I went to three girly sleepovers: one with just Rachel, Kurt and me. We cried and ate snacks and pampered each other for distraction. It was a great night.

The next one was with Tina, Sugar and Lauren. I was only really close with Tina, but I was finding more and more things in common with the other two girls. That was relaxing and kind of fun; we just tried mixing our own cocktails and watched movies.

The one at Brittany's house was with Santana, Tina, Lauren and Quinn.

That was the least fun for me. Quinn constantly talked about Sam, and was being hard on him too; saying that he was too naïve sometimes, his jokes really sucked, he never understood when to leave her alone, his topics of conversation were too random and unnecessary, his hair smelled too much like citrus fruits and he never smiles at her anymore and sometimes, she can't stand being in the same room as him. Yet she had the audacity to add: "I still love him, though."

Apart from Santana, all the other girls discreetly looked over at me when she was complaining. Tina and Brittany could hardly contain their laughter when they saw me down two vodka shots in one go.

The most annoying thing about Quinn's complaints was that every single thing she disliked about Sam, I loved them all about him, I cherished all of his qualities and quirks, and I was just happy that he was comfortable enough to share them with me.

And I couldn't speak a word of this with Quinn sitting right beside me; I couldn't even move away when she hooked her arm through mine or she lay down her head in my lap.

Quinn was Quinn though, and despite her cold bitchiness sometimes, you had to love her. I guess that's why Sam was still her boyfriend.

What was my excuse with Shane?

The next evening I spent at the lake with Blaine, Kurt and Rachel. We had a gourmet picnic, sang a few songs, and Rachel and Kurt even went skinny dipping. As they were drying off, Blaine and I couldn't help but follow suit and skinny dip too.

When the night time finally settled on us, we star-gazed into the late hours. We made up our own patterns, tried to find the constellations, we talked about our star signs, we picked out planets we recognised and even attempted to spot this asteroid with our naked eyes. We couldn't, obviously.

The day before yesterday, I spent with the guys. Out of all the girls, they said I was the most fun, which got some protests from Mike and Finn. At Artie's house I learned how to play poker, we drank beer, played Never Have I Ever, and told the rudest and dirtiest jokes we knew. I, of course, won that easily.

This was the first time Sam and I spent some time together just as friends; not as secret loves or true soul mates, which we always were though. But that night, we were best friends, sharing one of our numbered nights with our other good friends.

I both loved and hated just being normal with him – it meant we truly did have a solid friendship around our affection, but I hated not being able to show it properly.

The boys were all staying the night at Artie's, and before Finn drove me home, they asked me to sing them a lullaby like the big babies they were. I obliged though, because I'd do anything for my guys. I softly sang them Halo by Beyoncé.

Rory began to cry, though. All of his family were back home in Ireland, and with the craziness concerning the public transport – he'd be lucky if he found even one flight running, let alone one with available or affordable seats.

We all said we'd be his family away from his family. And the internet was still managing to run, so he could video call them. I don't know if he felt any comfort in that, but he seemed to feel a little bit better. I hugged and kissed all of them goodbye, saving the longest, sweetest ones for Sam.

Somehow, we did manage to meet up every day, me and Sam. Even if it was for an hour, walking through the park or a quick drink at the Lima Bean – which thankfully, continued to stay open. We were making the most out of our time together.

Then there was Shane. Every time I thought I mustered the courage to end things gently with him, I just couldn't do it. His mother would interrupt, or he'd start telling me about something knew he learned about the asteroid or some insane news story would catch our attention. The most recent news story which kept me in a relationship with Shane was the reactions of some people across the world. The most terrified people were desperately trying to build underground shelters in the hopes that it would provide protection. In the hopes that they could survive this. I just prayed that my family wouldn't drag me down into the basement for the rest of my life.

I didn't think so, because my parents were embracing the end of their lives like Puck and I were, not trying to hide away from it.

The one Sunday that had passed was the best time I'd ever spend with my family. Usually, one of us would be in some sort of bad mood so we never really had family time apart from the special occasions and holidays. This time though, was completely different. Mom woke us up with the smell of pancakes and bacon.

When we all got downstairs, we saw ice-cream sundaes on the table, too. We all just looked at her. "Why not?" Was all she said, and was all we needed to hear. After breakfast and a quick service at church, we all watched each one of our favourite movies at home. We played board games and card games – laughing at how sore a loser Puck was, and how competitive I got. We even caught Mom cheating a couple of times. Then we had a BBQ dinner, just us four, but there was a lot of food. It was more like a feast, and Dad ended up carrying some of it to our nearest neighbours. The rest of the night was spent watching our old home movies, looking through photo albums and speaking to my grandparents over the phone. We all said a prayer together before we went to bed.

It was the most amazing, loving Sunday of my life; the greatest time I'd had with my family in a long time. And it just strengthened the pain inside – there would be no more family Sundays.

No more family at all, in a short while. The whole world, my entire family...my parents, my brother...it was going to be the end of it all, and the end of us all.

Just as soon as I started to feel awful and depressed and scared again – Sam would, in some way, be there to brighten away the dark clouds over me. He'd text me something random like: **Ma Sweet...d'ya think something's drivin this asteroid?**

Or he'd call, asking what I was doing and if I wanted to watch Avatar while we were on the phone, so it'd be like watching it together. It seemed like just as I was about to feel down or sad, he was always there to pull me back up and make me smile.

I called and texted him too. I purposefully left a voicemail on his phone for him to listen to if he ever felt depressed sometimes. My own reason was in case Quinn was too unfair with him. It was a few minutes of me telling him how awesome he was, how I loved that Bamboleo and Hero mash up he sang in glee once. After I said that we has my best and loveliest friend (emphasis on the _love_ part), I ended with the crummiest Star Wars one-liner I could think of. My Southern accent wasn't anywhere near as good as his, but I ended with; **may the force be with y'all**. When he had called me back, he was still laughing at my voicemail, and told me he'd listened to it five times.

There was no doubt in my mind that Sam and I were well and truly made for each other. With every bit of my heart, mind and soul, I loved him. And by the way his face lit up when he saw me, or when he'd breathe a contented sigh when hearing my voice, it was obvious he loved me too.

And that was when I had began thinking...well, maybe that was all the proof we needed of how we felt. I knew breaking up with Shane and Quinn was obviously the right thing to do, but with the end of the world on its way to kill us...did it really matter?

Of course it mattered! That's why I was headed to Shane's house that Thursday afternoon before I met Sam – to finish it once and for all and surprise my true soul mate with proof of my affection.

**Later that day**

**Sam**

There was no way to identify and separate my emotions. Everything I was feeling was one jumbled up, bubbling mess in my heart and mind.

The constant ringing of my phone, its vibration, only added heat to my current emotional state.

There was anger, which wanted me to hit something or someone. There was sadness, which wanting me to sink to my knees and cry. There was guilt, wanting me to answer just one of Quinn's calls or answer one of her texts. There was confusion, wanting me to march right round to Mercedes' house and get some answers. We were supposed to meet an hour ago. I texted her, and she replied with **not now Sam, talk l8r**. And no kisses at the end either! I called her repeatedly, before they started going straight to voicemail.

She was ignoring me the way I was ignoring Quinn.

A whole hour and a half had gone, and here I was, near the Lima Bean, and alone.

What happened to our promise? Meeting up every single day before it was impossible, because we were all dead? What happened to our confessions in the woods – of our pure love and adoration for one another? Was she brushing that aside?

I know, in any other circumstances, I may have been overreacting. But the circumstances were: life was literally short. We made a promise, and we didn't have that long to keep it. I wanted to spend every single day with her, to talk to her all the time. Yet she had forgotten about me. With the limited amount of days left – three weeks from today, this asteroid was supposed to collide with the Earth and kill everything and everyone – she was throwing away our time the way we'd disposed of those cheap paper chains we hung up in the McKinley forest last week.

What was going on?

Giving up on her, with a hot rage inside me, I called Quinn back. I was expecting her to be pissed, and she was. But she still needed to see me.

At least someone did.

**Mercedes**

My heart raced even more with every time my phone vibrated in my pocket.

I was silently praying that Sam wouldn't get mad.

When I got to Shane's house, only a few of his family members were there. His mum was like her normal self again, having a quiet prayer meeting with her friends.

We went upstairs, only this time, my resolve was stronger. As soon as we got to Shane's room, he wrapped his arms around me – suffocating me, not as gentle and loving like Sam's hugs – and crushed his lips to mine.

For two seconds, I didn't react. As soon as I felt his tongue graze mine, I pulled away.

"I've missed you. Are you okay, baby?"

My new tactic was: only bring up the topic of splitting up when I knew he wouldn't interrupt me. I was timing it properly. "Yeah, Shane, are you?"

"Yes," he nodded. He led me to his bed. "I was thinking about what I should do with the rest of my life. And I realised...I want it to be as complete as possible." I tried hard, but I couldn't figure out what he was referring to. "I want to make love to you, Cedes."

I was judging the way he said it; he was just plain and bold about it. I knew if Sam ever said that to me, and I always hoped that he would, he'd blush and say it quietly and be nervous. I wasn't sure if I preferred it that way or not.

Like I said before, I don't know if Sam gave his virginity to Quinn, or even if he lost it before her. She was extremely pretty and smart, and very sweet when she rarely chose to be with males. But something deep inside me hoped that he didn't – that he wanted me the way I wanted him.

"I love you, and I wanna love you in every way possible, as much as I can, before we die." As sweet as he was, the more he confessed his love for me, the more I wanted to finish things between us; the easier I was finding it.

"Shane...I love you too. But not in that way. My love is for someone else."

It was at that point that Sam started calling me. I was fifteen minutes late, but I was hoping that in ten more, I could run into his open arms and tell him what happened.

The hurt in Shane's eyes wounded me, but my honesty kept me going. I was being selfless, finally telling him the truth, and I was being selfish for once too. "You don't love me?"

"I do, Shane." I sat next to him, a distance away. "But not in the way a girlfriend should love her boyfriend. It's nothing you've done, and it's nothing I or anyone else has done either. But love is love. I'm really sorry, but I just didn't want to keep lying to you, to myself, to God or to.." I had to tell him, "or to Sam."

Unexpectedly, he didn't seem surprised, though the tears where like two wild streams down his face. "I...I don't know..."

"I want you to know, Shane, that I'm sorry. Really sorry. You've been the best boyfriend, you're sweet and funny a-and...you're all the good things out there. But I just don't love you that way, and I don't wanna spend our final few weeks trying to pretend otherwise.

He didn't speak for a moment. "How much do you love him?" He whispered.

_Be honest,_ I reminded myself. "A lot. More than my own heart can contain. That's why I had to give it to him."

For a moment, when he reached out to me, I did think he was going to hit me. But when he pulled me in for a hug, it was the first time in a while that I relaxed into his embrace. I guess it was the first time I didn't have the weight of my lies on my shoulders.

"I understand. I knew, in my heart, that you loved him, and that he loved you even more. But I loved you too much to admit it. That was selfish of me."

I kissed him on the cheek. Although he was able to accept it and forgive me, he was still sad. He cried, and I cried – how I still had tears left from this past week, I'll never know – and we talked for ages. I didn't have it in me to just cut our conversation short to meet Sam. Now that I did what I had to do, I could spend every single day with my Sammy, and be honest about it. Even if he was still with Quinn, though I prayed he wouldn't be, at least it was obvious how I felt.

I quickly sent a text to Sam, hoping he wouldn't be too angry at me, while I let Shane pour his sad heart out to me.

Though I was anxious to see Sam, and tell him about what had happened and why I was late, Shane was still my friend, and in need of a shoulder to cry on.

But I finally broke up with Shane.

_I'm doing this for you, Sam. For you, for me, for us, for Shane and everyone else._

**Sam**

With Quinn at my apartment, in my room, I was trying hard to remember that she couldn't get to me here: this was my home, and there was no way she could get me down or upset me.

Yeah..._fuck no_.

She was the entire ice monarchy today, and I didn't know why. I didn't understand why she was here if she didn't want to see me.

But I had her hand in mine as we both quietly seethed, for entirely different reasons.

I was going to break up with her. Even is Mercedes had had enough of me or didn't want to spend every day with me anymore, I was going to be with her whether she wanted that or not. I wanted to prove my immense love for her: I would seriously do anything for her that I could in so short time.

"Quinn...you know I care about you, right?"

"Yes, Sam."

"But...I don't wanna lie to you anymore. And – and since the world's gonna end soon, I don't think it's fair to anyone."

She yanked her hand out of mine and turned to face me. "Lie about what?" The ice in her words was nothing compared to the ice in her glare.

Somehow, this was making it harder for me.

When she had run away from her home, when she had a big fight with Santana and Mr. Schuester, when she tried to ruin the glee club, when her father threw her out of the house for going wild, when she kissed Puck in front of everyone to when she finally recovered from all the drama she created for herself and moved back home; all of this came flooding back to me now.

But all of this should have encouraged me to finish things, and it did. And maybe, once I broke up with her, she'd go to Puck – that was what they wanted, right?

"Lie about my feelings. I care about you but I don't love you, Quinny. I don't think you love me -"

She punched me hard in my chest, and began sobbing like she didn't know what oxygen was.

Her face turned red, glistening with tears, and her fists balled up tightly against her chest.

"Sam...I'm so sorry," she said. "I'm such a bitch, you deserve better. And the truth."

I was trying to ignore the pain; I had to remember that I'd been lying to her too, about my affection. But what was this next lie coming around to bite me in the butt?

I let her cry, and whimper, and sob and growl in frustration for five minutes. I clenched my jaw, ground my teeth and let a few tears fall.

If Mercedes hadn't ignored me, then I would have been able to prepare myself for this. It was her fault that I was losing mind very slowly right now. If I had planned and thought it through, and done this another time, this would have been a whole less messier and a lot easier.

"Qui, it's not that I don't care about you. I do, a lot. But I don't wanna have to lock away my heart for the rest of my life, because someone else already has it. I don't wanna lie to you or myself anymore. That's why I have to -"

"No. Sam...no. You need to listen to me."

"Quinn, I know, but if I don't do this now, it'll only hurt more tomorrow. We need to make the best of this, and that's what I'm -"

"Please. Fucking. Listen. To. Me. You don't understand."

The anger in me, the anger at Mercedes for forgetting about me, as well as not being able to love her as I should, was coursing fast through my body.

"What the fuck don't I understand now? I know I'm not that smart Quinn, but I'm not stupid. I'm not a mind reader, though I wish I was. What is it that-"

"I'm going to tell you now, if you'd just listen."

**Mercedes**

Shane and I were still talking and consoling each other.

He was still heartbroken, but in a good way, he'd said. He officially forgave me and accepted Sam and me. The least I could do was listen to his sorrows and troubles. I _wanted_ to listen. Sam might be annoyed that I was late, but all of that would vanish as soon as I told him 'I broke up with Shane. And now it's you and me, my actual love and best friend, against the dying world.'

I was working on what I was going to say to him. That was too rehearsed, but it was honest.

**Sam**

My heart literally felt like it stopped. Everything around me and inside me froze. My mouth and tongue couldn't move – the words were lodged in my throat, my thoughts were stuck in my head.

Quinn didn't speak either.

Finally, I was able to say something, and it was the stupidest thing I had ever asked, though with Quinn, she'd have a lot to choose from. "With what?"

I could see she was doing her best not to lunge for me, to keep from her teeth from sinking into my throat. "You can't be that stupid." She shook her head, as if telling herself that I couldn't be this stupid. In my defence, I was speechless otherwise. "I'm pregnant, with an _actual baby_. If it wasn't g-going to be kil..." The tears swelled in her throat, making it hard for her to speak. "If I could give birth to it, it would have fingers and toes and a heartbeat and hair just like yours," she said into a cry.

I closed down inside. I wasn't even on autopilot or a robot; I was just dead and lost. My baby; my baby son or baby daughter...I wouldn't even get to find out the sex of it. That little thing of life would not know anything of the world. It wasn't going to get the chance of life. It was going to die. How was that fair? My beautiful, unborn baby was going to die unknowingly alongside a ninety year old person, who had lived a full life.

How was that fucking fair?!

"We used protection." I did sleep with Quinn. But not out of love, out of comfort.

Mercedes had just taken a weekend vacation to Shane's family's house, out of town. My heart ripped itself apart. I could only assume that they were going to have sex (I could never say she made love, unless it was with me), and at that point, I had genuinely thought she didn't return my affection. The pain needed a balm, and I found that from being inside Quinn.

That was when Quinn had carved one long cut on the inside of her thigh, when she realised the consequences of her selfish actions. I felt sorry for her. I kissed the vicious cut better, and did my best to comfort her, though in my head, I was praying that if Mercedes was indeed having sex with Shane, then she was thinking of me the way I was thinking of her.

"Obviously defective," she muttered, still shedding tears and not meeting my eyes.

My next question was genuine; I had to know, and I had to give her the option. "Are you...gonna keep it?" The voice didn't sound like my own as I spoke. It was dead and cold and flat.

Her reaction showed me that my question must have been the worst thing I had ever said to her. Quinn's face turned to stone, her tears literally froze. "What is wrong with you?" And she slapped me across the face.

I embraced the pain though, I was grateful for it. It woke me up, drew me back to this crap reality and my ending world. "Are you tapped in the head?" She gently stroked my sore cheek as she buried her face into my neck. "If I abort it now...there won't be any doctors that are willing to work anymore, I don't think. I wanna give...Beth, if it's a girl, or...if it's a boy." I knew she was going to say Noah Jr. or something, but managed to stop herself. Quinn was amazing at lying. How she could keep it up, I'll never know, because even I had to eventually tell the truth. "If it's a boy or girl, whatever. I wanna give this baby all the life I can, before God and this dumb asteroid steal away all of it. What if there is no asteroid, Sam? What if it misses us? Or if it doesn't, what if some of us survive? I'm not going to be the one to take away its chance of living. And neither are you. You've got to be here for us, Sam."

The most selfish, and awful question came to mind: _did I really have to be there for them, though_?

There was no time for pain or regret, was there? What was going to happen was going to happen, no matter what. Mercedes was my life.

But I impregnated Quinn. It was down to me too. And I couldn't help the big chunk of my love and care going straight to my unborn child either. I loved it already.

"I'll be here for you, Qui. We'll make the best of our tiny, broken family life until we can't. But you've got to be honest with me. You know I don't love you that way anymore, but I do care about you. And this child. Stop bitching and lying to me, okay? You _are_ important to me." But that wasn't enough, anyway.

She kissed me, and nestled into my arms. She didn't reply, or agree or anything. She ignored my plea for her promise.

That should have been my first clue.

* * *

**Not gonna tell you what happens in the next chapter: hope this keeps you interested. Stick with me.**

**And please review! Be honest, okay?**

**Btw, this is the last chapter I'm posting before I turn 18 =]**


	8. Chapter 8

**Long chapter ahead - just for all the emotion.**

**Please read - would really like some reviews. Opinions inspire me.**

**Hope you enjoy. Thank you all for following/reading/favouriting. Means so much.**

**Don't own Glee/Facebook/any of the songs mentioned.**

* * *

**Mercedes**

I never saw Sam at all today. I hoped he wasn't mad at me.

After parting with Shane – on good terms, considering his broken heart – I called Sam several times; no answer, no call back.

I had texted Sam several times; no reply.

I Facebooked him several times: no response.

I went round to his home: little Stacy answered, but said he wasn't there.

It wasn't the fact I was desperate – but we had promised each other; every day. And since I _did_ bail on our plans because I didn't know ending things with Shane would take so long, I owed it to Sam to at least make an effort.

Was the damage done already? I mean it's not like I did something deliberate; I just happened to not make our meeting. If he were truly worried, he'd have continued contacting me, right?

I was hoping that he wasn't being petty, deciding to ignore my attempts as payback.

After many hours of trying to reach him, I gave up. I never told him about Shane – he had to wait to get that good news. It was something that had to be talked about in person.

I spent the remainder of the day with my mom, just talking and watching TV and snacking. Then Dad and Puck came home, and surprisingly, we spent the evening like we would on a normal day.

Apart from the constant television programs that reminded us that things were far from normal. There were constant news reports about the reactions and widespread panic across the world. There were interviews with all those scientists, world leaders and religious leaders and more. There was even a program that constantly tracked the asteroid on direct path to us.

None of us watched that channel.

We decided to go to one of the church services.

I know it sounds awful but I didn't pay attention to one bit of it. All the cries, the prayers shouted, the emotional hymns sung, the hugs being passed around to one another…it was all distant to me. My eyes glazed over, and when Puck gently squeezed my elbow, only then did the tears spill from my eyes.

Was it the fear of what would happen in a few weeks what that scared me? I mean…we finally would meet God…find out if it was all real.

Or was it the pain and sadness of everyone around me?

Was it my beautifully flawed but strong family, the idea of losing them, what frightened me?

Was it the fact that one day being without Sam, without talking to him, was hurting me more than I could fathom?

Yes.

It was all of those things, but the last part more than anything. I needed him so bad.

He was the only one who knew how to comfort my fears, if that made any sense.

**Sam**

I was still at Quinn's house when we found out about the special glee club meeting today.

With my arm wrapped around her – only because she had requested it – we laid on her bed together. I might as well have been hugging a brick wall because that's how much attraction and emotion I felt towards her. But that little doomed thing inside her, my little unborn miracle was the one single brick made out of all the happy things in life.

And it wouldn't get to experience any of it.

All I thought of was Mercedes; the entire afternoon, evening and night I was with Quinn, and the entire morning, I kept imagining that, if this asteroid just _had_ to hurtle towards us in any other life or dimension, then I wanted that baby to be _ours_. Mine and Mercedes'.

I wanted him or her to have light brown skin. I wanted our child to have soft and thick honey brown hair. I wanted it to have my mouth and her sweet eyes. I wanted my child to have her entire personality. If our Samcedes child had to have something of me, then it would have my capacity to love its mother.

If I could make that world even more perfect, then there would be no fucking asteroid at all. There would have been no Quinn and me; just Sam, Mercedes and one beautiful blessing growing inside of her.

I fiercely rubbed my eyes of any tears, of the pain beginning to swell behind them.

That was when her phone vibrated with a text message. My phone had died during the course of the night. I gently tapped Quinn awake as she read the message, and then she passed her phone for me to read as she stretched her muscles.

**Glee members…my best friends. Meeting 2nite w/ Mr. Schue = goodbyes :'( Plz all b there. Same ol' place, 5pm. RT.**

I smiled softly as Artie's acquired nickname: Brittany didn't quite know how to spell his name when they first met, and obviously, it just stuck for good.

"You're coming, right?"

She nodded, unenthusiastically.

"How are you doing?"

"You can go, Sam. I'll see you later."

I got to my feet. "Whatever you need…I'm here, okay?" She smiled weakly, and nodded.

So I left her.

I knew (hoped) that Mercedes would have tried to contact me on my phone. Truth was; I was glad that it had died. I was glad I couldn't talk to her.

How could I look her in the eyes…how could I speak to her, knowing that Quinn was pregnant with my child? I had slept with Quinn only twice: once when Mercedes went on vacation with Shane, and a second time around a month and a half ago. Just for the sake of it, because she was willing and almost desperate. How could Mercedes know that?

Getting home was a blur to me. I saw only one car on the road as I made my way home. The streets were almost deserted. Or they were super crowded. I didn't know, my head just wasn't right at that moment.

When I got to the apartment, I hugged my family before throwing myself onto my bed. After half an hour of wanting to become a part of the mattress and just not be here anymore, Stacy knocked softly on the door.

"Cedes was here, looking for you." And that was all she said.

I wasn't feeling my heart beat. Lazily, I plugged my phone to its charger.

Before my phone had time to alert me of any missed calls and messages, I texted her.

**Mercedes**

**Sorry. See u l8a glee. X**

I would have preferred receiving no text at all, rather than being sent that.

I know the text I'd sent to Sam when I was with Shane was no better. But 1) I had a reason which he would gladly accept if he'd just talk to me and 2) I tried to make up for it.

But after all of that, I got nothing from him. Was this what years of being friends and loving each other resulted to? When one little problem occurred, that was our love and friendship over with?

For reasons unknown to me, I went to Puck's room.

When he told me to come in, I asked about tonight.

"Yup, I'm going too."

Then I asked the question I had really come here to ask. Something about how things currently were with Sam and me had me thinking that Quinn was most likely concerned. "Can you just be honest with me? I'm not gonna go blabbing my mouth or anything. This is for my curiosity."

His eyes sliced towards me. "What?"

"You like Quinn, don't you? Not as a person, I mean you like her how she should like Sam? You wish she was yours?"

He avoided my gaze for a moment, clenching his jaw. "Yes. Now -"

"Why haven't you done anything about it, then?"

"Loads of reasons. The main one: how can I love a complete bitch?"

"She's not all bad, Noah." I knew that was just his excuse for being scared, lazy or just unsure.

"Sam's cool – I didn't couldn't do him like that, stealing Quinn from him." I almost laughed; stealing Quinn away would have been one of the best things he ever did. "We'll go together to glee club, Mercy, but I just…"

I nodded, understanding. "I'll leave you to it, bro-bro."

**Sam**

Away from Quinn, away from the pressure and drama of that moment; with my mind completely clear, some light bulb flickered on in my head. Something inside me clicked and it suddenly made sense.

That wasn't my baby. Either Quinn just didn't know or she was lying or something. But I just knew in my heart.

All that love I was feeling for that unborn child was a combination of three things. First: how could I _not_ love any child; whether it was mine or not, whether there even was one, it was a baby. My siblings made me adore children.

The second; I guess it was just instinct. When Quinn told me that she was pregnant, I felt what I thought I had to feel; which was responsibility.

The final reason was that my fantasy had seeped into reality: a dream where the world was safe, a world in which Mercedes was pregnant with our child. I felt love and adoration for that fantasy child, and I'd brought it into the real world.

My situation was really screwed and confusing.

Something else which convinced me that Quinn's child was not mine was the chances that the condom we'd used was defective. I knew it was very possible, that it definitely could have happened but...what were the odds? In my gut, it felt too coincidental, and due to my lack of smarts, I had learned a while ago to trust my instincts.

I trusted them now: before I got time with Mercedes alone, before we talked and I apologised to her with all I had…I'd confront Quinn about it.

Today, I was making things right because it was better late than never.

Until the meeting in a couple of hours, I spent time with Stacy and Stevie.

We watched our favourite cartoons – I had their mental age, sometimes – made brownies and played games for a while.

It broke my heart to see a 7 and 9 year old needing such cheering up. But I didn't think anyone was going to able to survive this destruction. Still, we managed to have fun together, and I was glad to see them smile naturally, even if it didn't change a thing in the world.

**Mercedes**

By this time, the roads were almost chaotic. People were running in all directions, cars were dangerously speeding around corners, glass was smashing and then it began to rain furiously.

I was concerned about meeting at school when it was supposed to be closed. I figured with time running out, though, nobody really cared.

The halls were dim when I arrived at McKinley – through the open main entrance – but the glee room wasn't far away, and I could see light and hear voices and sad music spill from the room.

My clothes and face were cold and damp from the rain, and my heart was heavy.

When I walked in, Rachel and Brittany rushed up to me, holding me in their arms. "We were worried about you," Rachel admitted.

They were followed by the rest of the girls, Quinn being the last one, and then all the guys gathered me up. Apart from Sam, who was immersed in the sound of the piano keys. He waved at me, and I waved back, but only we knew how he looked past me, not into my eyes.

That sent a jolting pain through my heart and stomach. It was literally breaking me.

Why was Sam doing this to me? What had I done for him to be so repelled by me?

Everyone continued to admit how scared they were for me because they had seen how dangerous the streets were becoming.

"I'm fine, I'm here now."

"She's right, guys. We're all here now, and we have to remember that until the very last moment, we'll all be here." He swallowed the catch in his voice. "Now…I want us to do what we do best. I want everyone to sing a song that just makes you happy or emotional. Anything that comes to mind."

"Can it be a duet or group number, Mr. Schue?" Finn asked, sounding the saddest I had ever heard him before.

"Of course. I just want everyone to comfort each other. It doesn't have to be perfect or rehearsed, I just want…"

Everyone looked at each other with heartbreak in their eyes. Sam looked directly at Quinn, but I saw something a lot more unpleasant in his stare.

Rory spoke up. "I know you said it doesn't have to be rehearsed, but there's this song I've been singing every day to comfort myself. I sing it on the phone to my family to let 'em know how much I love and miss them. I'd like to sing that to you guys." His thick Irish accent, along with the sorrow in his voice, reminded me that Rory had this the hardest. He had no family here, and he'd never get to be with them again.

Without saying a word, Mr. Schue patted him on the back and gestured to the floor as everyone took as a seat in our familiar plastic chairs.

_Another summer day  
Has come and gone away  
In Paris and Rome_  
_But I wanna go home_

_May be surrounded by_  
_A million people I_  
_Still feel all alone_  
_I just wanna go home_  
_Oh, I miss you, you know_

Everyone sank into the lovely sadness of Michael Bublé's Home. Rory made it his own, and it just hurt me, but comforted me at the same time. Santana brought her legs up to her chest and leaned into me as she did her best to hide her tears.

No one applauded Rory once he had finished the song, because it wasn't appropriate. He sung it amazingly and sweetly, but this wasn't a performance. It was a way of admitting 'yes, I'm scared and lonely and sad; I just want to be able to say so and be comforted for it."

"Rory, that was beautiful," Mr. Schue said. Rory went back to his seat, immediately embraced by Sugar.

Tina was next to sing; Lean on Me by Bill Withers. She wasn't preventing her tears as they spilled down her cheeks.

_Sometimes in our lives  
We all have pain, we all have sorrow  
But if we are wise  
We know that there's always tomorrow_

_Lean on me when you're not strong  
And I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on  
For it won't be long  
'Til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on_

Quinn stood up to join her hen Tina was beginning to sob, and together, they sang the next verse.

_Please, swallow your pride  
If I have things you need to borrow  
For no one can fill those of your needs  
That you won't let show_

They swayed as they continued to sing and cry, finishing the song.

Mike stood up and hugged both of them as they returned to their seats. I looked up to my left, and saw Sam staring intently ahead. He wasn't moving, or acknowledging anyone else in the room. His eyes were glazed over, and I hadn't realized that I was holding my breath until I finally saw him breathe first. I swallowed hard, and turned back around.

Not before I saw his head turn towards me, and I could just sense his eyes on me.

**Sam**

Why was I feeling so messed up right now? This couldn't be real. Mercedes was in the room with me, a few feet away, and here I was ignoring her. She was ignoring me too, I knew that, but she even took a moment to look back and make sure I was okay. She was so selfless and caring. Her gaze on me was like a fire against my skin.

Even though I strongly believed that Quinn's baby wasn't mine, it was only because I refused to believe it was true.

I didn't want to believe it.

Even so, whether Mercedes has slept with Shane or not, I felt guilty for giving myself to Quinn that way.

I didn't know what I wanted or needed to do; where did I need to start to sort out the remainder of my life?

Artie was next to sing, and he began introducing the song as he wheeled himself into the centre of the room.

"I know it's not like those first two songs, but I can't help dreaming whenever I hear this song. I mean – it just makes me dream of what I could be, of what could happen, but it also reminds me that even if I die tomorrow, I can still be proud of my life, and remember how strong I've been."

I didn't get why, but out of everyone, Artie was the most optimistic about the situation. That was just him, though. "This song just says, although this time is hard and scary, we've all got so much to be proud of. Dying is a natural part of life. In a sick, fucked up way – sorry Mr. Schue," since our teacher shook his head at Artie's language, getting a few snickers from the group, "this asteroid is natural too. And we should be ready to finally leave this broken world and go to a better place. That's what I believe, and that's what I think this song is saying right now. Plus, the guy's awesome and the song's just epic. Let us all…" he grinned at every one of us, "let us all Touch the Sky."

Without further ado, he was rapping Kanye West's Touch the Sky.

_I gotta testify, come up in the spot looking extra fly  
For the day I die, I'mma touch the sky  
Gotta testify, come up in the spot looking extra fly  
For the day I die, I'mma touch the sky_

He lightened the mood too, by smiling and dancing in his chair along to the song. Some of the others clapped and nodded their heads. It was inspiring, uplifting.

Kurt raised his hand once Artie ended the song and took his bows.

"Yeah, Kurt?"

"Mr. Schue…can we just take a mini break?" His arm was wrapped around Blaine's shoulders, whose face was in his hands, and there was no mistaking his trembling shoulders.

"Yeah…sure. Ten minutes, guys."

As Brittany, Santana, Lauren and Puck hesitated before beginning a quiet, mumbled conversation; I knew I had to seize this opportunity.

Quinn looked over at me, and I nodded sharply out of the room, but she furrowed her brow. I got up, and headed through the door and she knew to do the same.

When we were a little way up the hall, I spun on my heel. I could either do this with my guns blazing or sugar-coat the subject and tiptoe around it.

Yeah, I've fucking done enough of that.

"Quinn – I can't even take anymore lies, manipulation, or bullshit, any of it."

"Hold on-"

"No, I'm not gonna. Is this baby even mine?"

Her eyes widened, and it looked as if she would slap me around the face once again. But I wasn't having that, she knew not to touch me right now.

"How can you ask that?" She asked, in a low voice.

"I know, I'm an idiot, I'm a dick, and I'm all those bad things. Now please…answer the question." A single, fat tear rolled down her cheek, her eyes holding icy daggers aimed right at me. "You're not the only one going to die here, Quinn. I'm going to as well, and I'm tired of having such moral responsibly forced onto my shoulders. I wanna make the best out of my life too. And I don't think that I can be with you, or with a baby that won't ever be born." She began shaking her head. "You've been through a lot, okay. But just because my problems haven't been the same as yours, it doesn't mean my life hasn't been hard too."

"I never said -"

"Even so, you've put me through a lot. We all know that. You owe me honesty. You owe me an answer. You've lied a lot, you've done a lot of bad things, and there's not enough time left to fix that now, I'm afraid." She ducked her head. Fucking finally, for the first time in this sham relationship, I was getting through to her! "But that doesn't mean you can't do something good right now. It doesn't mean you can't try to fix this. Now…is it even mine?"

Her eyes lifted, and I could swear she was thinking over what to say. That was an answer enough, I saw that from the start, but I didn't want to have to be figuring this out. She needed to tell me; to be a decent person.

"This is the worst time to be pregnant, I know. I'm sorry that this is gonna be so hard on you but don't make it hard on me too. If the baby's mine, well…I need to know the truth." _I need to know that it's __**not **_my child_, _I thought.

**Mercedes**

My hands tightened around myself when I heard the last bit of Sam's conversation.

After a minute into our break, Rachel started to cry too. I said I'd go to the bathroom and bring an entire roll of toilet paper for all the inevitable tears. I knew we all needed a good, quiet cry, and I wanted us to let them out.

I stopped in my tracks, in the shadows of the wall, when I heard Sam's hushed yet harsh sounding voice.

None of my friends new about my breakup – it was a secret thar I was keeping to myself.

But breaking up with Shane was something _good_; good for me, for Sam, for Shane and for all my friends who knew how I felt about Sam. I was waiting for the best time for them to find out, for those who cared.

But this was hardly good news…Quinn was pregnant?

That was it, I was seriously broken. The world was dying, and my friendship with Sam was dying. Any possibility of a relationship was dying. Was our love already dead? I just gave up everything. Even though it was the right thing to do anyway, I had broken up with Shane because I loved Sam that much.

The exact opposite was happening here.

"Is. It. Mine." Sam growled.

"No," Quinn breathed.

I heard quiet footsteps behind me, but it wasn't loud enough for the couple to hear from up the hall.

Sam exhaled loudly; sounding frustrated, angry and yet relieved too. "That's it for us. We're not a couple anymore. Only thing was…we left it a little late. But I don't wanna spend my life being with you."

Before he had time to say anything more, Quinn continued. "Two months ago, Puck and I…we had sex. It was just too much, him always being so close and yet so far away from me. After school one day, we just took a walk because we needed to talk. And i-it…it happened."

The hall was silent for a moment. "We had sex after that?"

I literally felt sick. Quinn being pregnant, the possibility of it being Sam's, Sam having sex with Quinn, Sam's secrecy and avoidance of me…I didn't know which to be upset about. It all just crashed down me, crushing my heart, like the asteroid was destroying my world already.

"I felt really guilty, and I just wanted to feel you, my boyfriend, on me. To reassure myself." I'm sure I heard Sam swallow hard from here. "It didn't work," she whispered. "I'm sorry, Sam. I feel awful. I said it was yours 'cos I thought it would make this whole thing a little less tragic. You don't understand how I feel. I know if I told Puck about this, and let him know that he could have been a father – I thought he'd flip out and bail on me. I thought I'd feel more alone, that's-"

She was interrupted by a frustrated scream from behind us. The footsteps I heard earlier were Puck's, and he caught the conversation too, and now he couldn't take it.

Quinn's head snapped up, and saw Puck's form storming out of the building.

"Puck?" Quinn called out at the same time Sam called my name. Confirming everything, Quinn ran after my adopted brother.

Sam was frozen on the spot. It wasn't just the darkness that was masking his emotions and reaction; it was him, for the first time since I knew him, I couldn't tell what was he was feeling. He was like a stranger to me, and the way he looked right through me suggested that I was a stranger to him too.

"We're going to cheer the mood up a little!" Santana called, oblivious, entering the hallway with the rest of our friends. "Hide and seek!"

"If we're gonna make the best out of our final few weeks together, we wanna do it right!" Blaine explained.

Santana nodded. "We can only hide on the first and second floor."

"Since that's still a lot of hiding places, both Lauren and Artie are the seekers," Brittany added.

"Where'd Puck and Quinn go?" Asked Mr. Schue.

Before Sam had the chance to say anything, I answered "they couldn't stay anymore. It was just too much."

That, people understood. Even with the weird history between the two, they all accepted my explanation. "Well, okay."

"You've got up to 50," Lauren announced, as she walked back into the lit room.

"One!" Artie said, before following her too.

Despite the quiet sadness of our situation, giggles and excited chatter erupted at playing this game.

"Everyone keep their phone around, though," Finn instructed.

After hearing the conversation between Sam and Quinn, my heart was still wedged into the pit of my stomach. I didn't feel like playing, but I didn't feel like being away from everyone either.

We all split up, and I walked away from Sam, to explore my options and hide, before he walked away from me.

**Sam**

I was aware of everyone dispersing in every direction. But I honestly felt Mercedes break away from me.

Counting 20 seconds in my head, I finally generated the energy and ability and thoughts so I could move.

On light feet, I sprinted up the stairs at the end of the hall.

It was time for me to stop being such a coward. I had confronted Quinn, and that was very hard and unpleasant. But I'd done it. I didn't care whether Mercedes did the same with Shane, because somehow, she had already proven her love for me.

The way she tried to talk to me yesterday, after I stupidly ignored her, only emphasised her care for me.

Now, _I_ needed to show _her_.

I was brave enough to end things with Quinn, but I was scared shitless to fix things with my heart, Mercedes.

I didn't care, though. It wasn't about me right now. I had to speak to her right now.

Although I had lost some time, I decided to go with my gut again; to seek out and hide in the place where I would have picked myself.

**Mercedes**

My heart raced twice its normal speed with every worry that clouded my mind.

I know we were only supposed to hide on the first two floors, but I wasn't really playing this game. It would take a while for Lauren and Artie to find everyone anyway, so by the time everyone wondered where I was, I would make an appearance once my thoughts had the time they needed to completely ruin my mind.

I found a make-do sanctuary on the third floor, in the doorless study room to the left of the stairs.

On one of the desks towards the back, behind a cubicle, I was on my back and staring at the ceiling.

To both my relief and chagrin, the thoughts weren't taking the time I was giving to swirl and swell in my head. The silence was actually calming, and with all things considered, things didn't seem so bad just then.

The lies, Quinn's pregnancy, Sam's distance, my poor brother, my sad friends, my family, the panic in the world, the dangerous, huge asteroid heading here and…me. Everything about me. All of that wasn't troubling me here. It was like I had left all that devastating shit at the threshold, and I could be calm and collected for a little time.

I guess the reason Sam's distance wasn't upsetting me anymore was because he was closing it. He was coming back to me, his proximity was tangible.

To be honest, a part of me wanted him _not_ to find me. But not because I didn't want to see or speak to him. In a twisted way, the more he didn't talk to me, the more we had to make up for when we did speak again.

Awful, I know. But it was a fact, a simple law of nature that Sam and I could not stay mad at each other.

The rest of me though, desperately wanted him to miss me, and to come and find me. It was stupid, wasting my numbered days acting like a cliché, moody teenaged girl.

But that was on my list of things to do before I soon died. Apart from craving and fighting Rachel for the diva spotlight sometimes, I never really allowed myself to be selfish, or to be pursued or worried about.

I wanted to know what that felt like at least once in my life.

Then I heard laboured breathing coming from down the hall, straight towards this room.

Despite my reluctance to play this game, I had to admit, there were nerves at the thought of being found by Artie or Lauren.

The person walked right into the room, and after a couple of seconds of silence and walking around, I heard Sam whisper, "Cedes."

There was nothing to help the fluttering of my heart.

But I didn't respond. I wasn't found just yet.

**Sam**

There were only a few cubicles and hidden desks here in the study room. At the moment though, it felt like there were rows upon rows of them as I searched each and every one.

Finally, I caught sight of her cute little feet dangling at the edge of a desk towards the back of the room. I knew she was here.

We were one and the same – our shared heart, mind and soul held the same thoughts and feelings. We both hid in the same places.

I walked up to her, seeing her eyes were closed, but her breathing wasn't deep enough for her to be dozing off. Not that she'd had that much time to anyway.

Then I couldn't speak. I couldn't even nudge her awake, because I wanted to be the one to talk first ,yet there were no words I knew to say. I didn't want to disturb her.

Instead, I gently placed my hand on her thigh. She lifted her chin but still didn't respond or open her eyes.

I did the thing I could only do with Mercedes; I had to get her attention, to know there were no barriers between us. I climbed onto the desk and straddled her lap, crossing my arms over my chest.

After a moment of silence, she opened her eyes. "You wanna talk," she observed, knowing my pleas for attention, my need to be given a chance when I needed it. "So talk, Sam."

**Mercedes**

I watched his face as he went into inward self-conflict.

He didn't know where to start.

"From the beginning," I told him. Helping him out, I reached out my hands, and he quickly grasped them, placing them on this thighs. I sat up, so we were face to face with him still on my lap.

"I'm sorry." Before I had the chance to ask what for, he carried on. "I don't know why I slept with Quinn, it was the stupidest thing I've ever done. I don't know if it will help or not, but I could only see your face."

"That doesn't help," I said, honestly. It tortured me to know that Quinn and Sam had slept together. It was beginning to feel like Sam had brought in my sorrows which I had tried to leave outside.

He nodded. "I know. But I love you, insanely. There is literally nothing I wouldn't do for you." I chewed the inside of my lip. "I know you heard already, but that baby isn't mine. It couldn't be."

"Are you happy about that?"

"Well, yeah. It's fucked up, I know that. I don't have time to be burdened, though. I wanna be selfish and do what I want. I wanna be with you now. I broke up with Quinn. It took too long, I know that. But even if it's just three weeks left, as long as I get to be with you, that's enough."

"I tried to talk to you yesterday."

"I was…going through stuff."

"Yeah? And what, I wasn't?"

"I'm not saying that. But you forgot about me too, remember?"

I shook my head. "No I didn't, actually. I texted you, hoping you'd just understand-"

"Understand what?"

"That I couldn't talk at the time. But I tried to make up for that. I tried contacting you as if it was the last thing I could do and you blew me off."

"So what, you talk to me whenever you please but if I can't talk to you, it's a big deal?"

"I'm not saying that Sam. You still haven't told me _why_ you ignored me. But I tried and tried to speak to you and nothing. It was like our promise just meant nothing."

"Yeah, and that's what you made it feel like to me as well."

"Seriously? You're blaming me?"

He held his breath. "I am. If you'd just showed up when you said you would, this wouldn't have been so messy."

"How could you say that? That's horrible. I was already feeling awful and wretched about it, and you're trying to make me feel worse?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I…apologise, for not meeting you. I had good reason. And I was trying to tell you again and again but if you'd just answered one of your calls or texts or whatever, you would have known that. Instead, you act like a poor little victim and a brat and an idiot, and ignore me back. That fucking hurt me, Sam."

"Don't call me names, Cedes."

"Why not? Why am I never allowed to be angry?" I squirmed beneath him, trying to get him off me. "We're going to fucking die soon." He winced at my words. "Yes, we are, and it's going to be devastating. Up until then, I just wanted to be happy with you. I never thought you'd be the one to kill my one dying wish." His body tensed, and only then did he slide off me. "I just wish…I bet it'd be easier to just die right now," I whispered to myself.

His voice became cold. "What?"

"You heard me, Sam. If I'd known things would have become this complicated, I would have never made that promise with you. I'd have probably thought of some other way to take myself out of this world or something. I could only pray that God would understand. But I knew He wouldn't, so here I am. Unfortunately for you."

His face became flushed with red, and the pangs of guilt inside me intensified. I shouldn't have said those things. But they were all true. Sam's hands were clutching my arms, and I don't think he was aware of his strength.

"Sam, let go, that hurts." His hold was slowing down the blood circulation in my arms, and sharp pain blossomed beneath this fingertips. "Sam…please," I breathed. "That really hurts."

"That's not even a fraction of the pain you just caused me. How could you fucking say that? You would have left me here, after I told you how much I cared and loved you?" His fingers dug harder. Tears swelled in my eyes, he was bruising my arms. It was excruciating.

His anger at me was killing me, too. My heart was in agony, and an ache was erupting in my head. Sam still managed to squeeze harder as he stared right at me. Hot tears were falling from his dark green eyes, and his voice was raspy from emotion. I was sinking to my knees because I couldn't fight back, because I was defeated by his painful hold on my arms. "You don't love me, do you?" He seethed. Even though I was lowering myself to the ground, his grasp didn't ease.

"Sam…stop," I begged. "Please, you're really hurting me. Of course I love you, that's why I'm breaking inside." Ignoring the pain, I opened my eyes and looked at the man whose love for me was actually hurting me. "I couldn't talk yesterday 'cos I…I was with S-Shane." His fingers flexed and his eyes widened. A fresh pain rushed through my arms. "I was breaking up with him. That's why I couldn't talk to you. I ended it, now I'm yours!"

Just like that, he let go of my arms. Being released was more painful than when his hands were on me. The sudden rush of blood in my veins and air to my skin made it twinge even more.

I sobbed and cried as I rubbed at my arms. Not because of the physical pain, but because of him and me. We were broken.

Hesitantly, he touched my arms, and stroked the bruised spots. "I'm so sorry. Mercy…I don't know what's wrong with me. How could I put my hands on you like that?" It was like he was talking to himself, as he absentmindedly rubbed my arms. He brought my left arm to his lips, brushing away the fabric of my t-shirt, and pressed his soft lips to the ring of soreness. I closed my eyes at the cooling sensation, continuing to cry. "Please, forgive me. I'm so sorry. I love you so much that I think it's taking over me. I'm blind and deaf and dumb to anything that makes sense because…"

"Our love…it just fills you up?" I whispered. He looked up at me. "I know, Sam. The passion is just too much and it suffocates me sometimes. But I don't care. And these marks you've left on me," I said, as he lifted my right arm and began bathing the pain in kisses, "they just…show that."

His water filled eyes met mine. "Exactly. I'm not myself but in a way…I've never felt like myself so much before, either." Gingerly, he grazed his tongue against my arm too, and that felt even better. "You really broke up with Shane?"

My composure was back. "I did. He was upset, but he understood. That's why I was with him for so long. He just needed to cry about it."

"I'm so sorry, Mercy. I just freaked out. I think this whole…end of the word has just really affected me. I never realised how much it was on my mind until now," he said, with another smooth lick against another bruise. "I'm going insane."

"Going," I repeated, with a question in my voice. He smirked against my skin.

"I've always been crazy, then. I've always been mad at about you, love."

"You know….when I found out you slept with Quinn and…there was a chance you got her pregnant. That almost finished me, Sam. I've never had sex with Shane. Even at his family's cabin, I couldn't do it." New tears sprang in his eyes and quickly ran down his cheeks and splashed onto my arms. "I know it'll sound crazy but I was honestly saving myself for you. The thought of being with him, and not you, just made my stomach churn. I loved you that much."

He shook his head, beautiful lips brushing against my arm as he did so. "Please…don't. Don't say that not sleeping with him showed how much you loved me. It's not fair. Guys like me sometimes think with our dicks when our hearts are disappointed. That's not fair, Mercedes. Please don't say that."

"No, it's true Sam. Not having sex with him and breaking up with him was my way of showing you how I felt. Your…you just assaulted me, you've done all things stupid and impulsive, Sam. And you broke up with Quinn. In your own way, that's how you've shown me."

"It's not up for discussion; I love you more than you can understand. With every ounce of affection you have for me, I have a whole world of affection for you. But that's love, I guess – incorrect and imbalanced and flawed."

I couldn't argue with him – with such conviction and certainty in his voice, he must have really believed he loved me more than I loved him. But whatever; either way, I was insane too, and mad about him. I would literally give everything to him.

I placed my hands on his shoulders, and he continued to shower each bruised arm with kisses and careful stokes of his tongue. With his free hands, he hooked his fingers into the waistband of my jeans, grazing his knuck;es against my skin and hipbones. "You really thought of killing yourself? Did you hate me that much?"

I couldn't hold anything back now. "Yes. Only for a moment -"

"A moment too fucking long." I thought he'd get angry again, but contradictory to his words, his lips and hands remained gentle over me.

"I know. I was desperate,, I wasn't thinking straight. See, Sam. This is what you do to me. Drive me to…"

I couldn't finish. I didn't need to. He knew what I meant. "I'm sorry, Mercedes. I really am. I hope you can forgive me for all of my stupidity. But if you ever think like that again, if you ever act that way…I'm really gonna be upset and angry. I love you way too much to control myself around you. Do you understand that?"

I nodded my head. But I had to get this upper hand back. "You slept with Quinn, Sam. More than once. You've ignored me as if I was nothing more tha some random chick. We swore to each other that we'd spend every day together, and continue to love each other more and more. You ruined that yesterday. And now, you put your hands on me like I was an enemy. That's physical abuse, and I'm not gonna stand for that violence ever again. It really did hurt. Like you, I love you way too much; if you do that again, I probably would accept it because I turn to mush when I'm with you. But once I come to my senses again, I will be so furious and upset with you. I don't know what I'll do. Do you understand _that_?"

He ducked his head, as he cried even more. "It's not gonna happen again, Mercedes."

"I fucking well know that, Sam. But still – the warning still stands. Now stop crying. You have nothing to be upset about, Sam. Stop it."

As twisted as it was, my heart and mind and emotions were returning to normal again. My heart was beating regularly – still rapidly, because I was with Sam – and my mind felt like it was connected to my body once again. Seeing so much passion in him had warmed my heart, trickling adoration down to my stomach and down to my core; tingling.

He wiped his face of any remaining tears. "I'm sorry."

I leaned into him, wrapping my arms around his strong, muscled torso. I leaned into his chest and buried my face into his warm neck. His arms tightened around me, so tightly as if I was going to disappear in the next second. "I know, sweetheart." I lightly kissed his neck and jaw line and cheek. "Are you hyperventilating?" I asked – his chest was rising and falling quickly against mine, and the pulse in his neck was throbbing hard.

"I'm super sensitive to you, Cedes." He brought his hips forward, so I could feel the sexy hardness in his pants pressing against my leg.

He was so beautiful.

"I love you so much Sam. I could tell you that every day."

"And I could listen to you say that for the rest of my life. You're so gorgeous and beautiful and sexy and sweet. You're all the good things under the sun, Ma Sweet."

My heartbeat raced at the thought in my head. "You're still angry, aren't you?"

He hugged me tighter, and I breathed in his scent. I inhaled the aroma of his sweet citrus shampoo, his musky cologne, his fresh deodorant, his mint soap, and the clinging smell of outside on his skin: smoke, faint sweat, car fumes and greenery. It was intoxicating. "You smell so good, Sam," I crooned.

"I swear, your hot scent clings to me sometimes."

"You never answered my question – you're still angry, aren't you?"

He swallowed hard. "Not actively, I'm over it. But I'm still kinda riled up, you know? I can't help it, it was a lot of emotion. I'm getting over it, though. Why? Are you still angry?" He was rambling, and it was adorable.

"Yeah, same as you. I was asking, cos…"

His muscles tensed up. "Cos you're kinda turned on by it, too?"

Heat crawled across my skin, and up my spine. "Something else I've wanted to do before I die," I wasn't quite ready for sex yet, "have an angry, steamy make-out session."

He moaned at the thought. "That sounds so hot." Just as he was about to capture my lips in his, I pulled away, and smiled for the first time in around 2 days.

"It does. And to make it even hotter – I'm gonna make you wait for it." I was determined to keep the upper hand for as long as I could.

Sam shook his head, and tried to kiss me again. I jumped to my feet and hurried towards the door.

"I'm still nervous about your temper, Sammy Daddy. Who's to say you won't hurt me again? Maybe you shouldn't touch me for a while."

He was still raw about that, and he looked away. "So sorry, Cedes," he breathed.

Sam was going to feel awful about that for a while, and hard. To be honest, he should do. But his heart in his chest and the emotions on his sleeves and his intentions were shining so brightly in the right places, that I forgave him. I couldn't be so hard on him. I offered my hand to him. "But I still want you to," I said. He interlocked his fingers in mine, head still hung low.

I kissed him on his lips. "You have my heart, Sammy. I gave it to you, and I'm glad you have it. Now…we can be together for real. Just you and me. If that's what you want."

His gaze met mine. "I've wanted that for ever, Ma Sweet. Please…let me have you."

I nodded, and placed a kiss on his forehead. "You have me. Look after my heart, Samuel, and I'll look after yours."

We slowly walked out, not quite fixed but together. We went back to our friends. Back to the glee blub and to the world sentenced for execution in a matter of weeks. The rest of the burdens I'd left at the door returned to me again, but I could handle it better now.

"I swear and promise to you, Mercedes, that I'll protect your perfect heart in my chest until our very last day. I'm gonna look after it with my life."

Sam wasn't perfect – but he was natural.

Sam was absolutely perfect.

He was my hero, and we'd protect each other until there was no more safety left in the world.

That time was coming soon, I knew that, but it was still so far away, out of reach.

* * *

**Let me know what you thought. Stick with me.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry this chapter took so long to publish. Maybe re-read Chapter 8 to re-familiarize yourselves?**

**BTW - I might have to change this fan fic rating to M, I'm not sure. You'll see why. I apologise to those who strictly wanted T stuff.**

**Anyways; please read, review and enjoy. **

* * *

**Sam**

To be honest, I had forgotten about the game of hide and seek until Mercedes and I walked into the glee room. Everyone else was there apart from Artie, Lauren and Brittany.

"Where were you guys hiding?" Mike asked. Every single eyebrow in the room quirked, and Kurt and Tina shook their heads in unison with similar, knowing smiles on their faces.

"In the most hidden of all hiding places," Mercedes said.

"Yup. Can't even be revealed."

Just as Rachel was about to speak up, Lauren was wheeling Artie into the room, slightly out of breath.

"Couldn't find her!" Artie explained.

"Damn – it would be Brittany of all people to outsmart us, wouldn't it?"

If not for Santana's devious smirk, I'm sure she would have been pissed off by Lauren's comment. "So you guys give up?" She asked, with a saccharine smile.

Both the seekers exchanged a look before nodding.

"They give up, Brit!"

Out she came from behind the open door to the room. The expressions on everyone's faces varied from confused to appreciative.

"You guys searched every single room…apart from this one?" I asked, on the verge of laughing.

Lauren huffed, and Artie kissed his teeth before moving back to the rest of the group. We all laughed at their reactions, and Brittany's smug expression matched her little victory cheerleading kick.

After we started to calm down, Mr. Schuester spoke up. "Alright guys, I'm glad we're all feeling a little bit better now -"

"But…" Finn interjected.

The frown tugging the corners of our teacher's mouth was enough of a hint. "I still think we should just…talk this out."

Surprisingly, Mercedes agreed. "Definitely, Mr. Schue." Her hands tightened around mine. "If we can't talk to each other, then what have we been working on since we started glee club?"

Everyone smiled proudly at the much adored Mercedes. Although she never always got the attention and credit she deserved, not one person could say that they didn't love her like a sister or close friend; not even Rachel.

"Absolutely right, Mercedes. I've actually written an account of mine and my dads' reaction to the news. I'd really like to share that with everyone. I think it will help me deal with what's going on. Is – is that okay?"

It was funny how everyone grew accustomed to each other. While the rest of us accepted Rachel's attention grabbing ways and her need to be first for everything, Blaine anticipated Santana's intolerance to her attitude, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders to stop her. He grinned, though his eyes were still red and glistening from his earlier tears. "Go ahead, Rachel." He muttered something into Santana's ear; although she cringed away from him, she rolled her eyes in assent of whatever he said.

We all pulled up a chair and sat together as Rachel began her recount of that day. She described her feelings – how sad and devastated she felt. She made several references to Broadway musicals to emphasise her emotions but obviously, I didn't understand them. She and her dads had sung their favourite songs together as they cried and shared cups of hot chocolate with whipped cream and mint drizzle. They watched all of the news reports about this asteroid, after which Rachel belted out the most emotional song she could think of. The Berrys then went to Rachel's room as her fathers tucked her in, and they talked about all the good things in their lives, and what they were proud of. Rachel came up with a 'coping mechanism' – they talked about what they _would_ be proud of in life if this asteroid were to come in _ten_ years time, instead of soon.

To me that sounded like a shitty, depressed thing to do but I bit back my words. I felt Mercedes' head shake against my shoulder, so she obviously agreed with me.

After another five minutes, Rachel finally ended with a shaky voice and teary eyes. So Mr. Schuester had us share our own reactions to the news. It varied from a day of shock from Sugar, endless sobs with Joe's family to a crazy family reunion and feast with Santana, Brittany, Finn and Kurt.

It felt good to openly remember that Mercy and I weren't the only ones going to die. Obviously, I knew everyone was at peril but it was hard to keep remembering that. Somehow, it made things feel a little less dark, a little less lonely and scary and painful.

Once our entire circle shared stories, there was a moment of comforting silence.

Mercedes and I weren't hiding our fully exposed affection for each other.

But everyone already knew about it didn't they? My arm was draped around her shoulders, and I stretched out my leg across her lap. She was turned into my side, head resting against my shoulder.

I know she was never one for public displays of affection. Whenever we got the chance to sit together in glee club, I'd always try to hold her hand secretly, out of sight. It's not because of our relationship statuses, why she never allowed me to hold her hand, but it was because she didn't want to have to depend on me. Even when she was with Shane, the only time you saw them display their affection was when he just sort of forced it upon her. He'd suddenly snatch her hand or slide his hand around her waist. Seeing that had always disgusted me to the pit of my stomach.

Now, though, she didn't care. Something in her had changed, but I loved it. Now, she was admitting that she wanted someone to lean on, and to be held and comforted by them. And she was choosing me as that person to share her vulnerabilities with. How I was so lucky enough, I'd never know, and I didn't want to know, either.

That was when I realised I had started humming a melody that came to my head at the thought of finally having someone to love for the rest of my life – I'd found Mercedes a long time ago, but it took me up until now to do something about my affection for her.

Out of the blue, Mercedes started singing the lyrics to the melody, very quietly into my neck. Her voice was so sweet and strong though, that the whole room could instantly pick up on our song.

_Remember those walls I built  
Well, baby they're tumbling down  
And they didn't even put up a fight  
They didn't even make a sound_

_I found a way to let you in_  
_But I never really had a doubt_  
_Standing in the light of your halo_  
_I got my angel now_

_It's like I've been awakened  
Every rule I had you breakin'  
It's the risk that I'm takin'  
I ain't never gonna shut you out_

I was being warmed and enthralled by her beautiful singing voice. I even closed my eyes and stopped humming because her voice alone was creating heaven. Mercedes nudged me, and together we sung the next lines – my deeper voice blending with hers.

_Everywhere I'm looking now  
I'm surrounded by your embrace  
Baby I can see your halo  
You know you're my saving grace_

_You're everything I need and more_  
_It's written all over your face_  
_Baby I can feel your halo_  
_Pray it won't fade away_

Per to the usual glee tradition, I expected everyone to have joined in at some point, if not now. I know they were all familiar with Beyoncé's Halo. But instead, they all smiled and swayed, some letting tears fall as the rest nodded for us to continue. Even Rachel, Kurt and Mr. Schue wanted us to carry on alone.

Mercedes had sung the chorus for me before, since I wasn't sure if I'd heard it, but it soon became one of my favourite songs because of her.

_I can feel your halo, halo, halo  
I can see your halo, halo, halo  
I can feel your halo, halo, halo  
I can see your halo, halo, halo_

Mercedes took the lead – and I gave it to her, singing only the second 'halo' on each line. But the next part was all hers.

_Hit me like a ray of sun  
Burning through my darkest night  
You're the only one that I want _(and she actually ruffled my hair!)_  
Think I'm addicted to your light_

_I swore I'd never fall again_  
_But this don't even feel like falling_  
_Gravity can't forget_  
_To pull me back to the ground again_

_Feels like I've been awakened  
Every rule I had you breakin'  
The risk that I'm takin'  
I'm never gonna shut you out_

I joined in on the chorus again, and we looked right at each other as we sang.

_I can feel your halo, halo, halo  
I can see your halo, halo, halo  
I can feel your halo, halo, halo  
I can see your halo, halo, halo_

_Halo. Halo._

We sang that verse again, and Mercedes harmonized that final 'halo' in such a spine-tingling, powerful voice that I had to hold my breath.

By the time the chorus had come round again, Mercedes got out of her seat as we continued singing, to hug everyone two at a time; letting them know that this song was meant for them as well, and not just me. It was a nice gesture and all, but I didn't agree with that. This song was solely about her love for me and mine for her. It was something pretty amazing.

Now was when the entire glee club joined in and it made us all smile but feel so much sadder too.

_I can feel your halo, halo, halo  
I can see your halo, halo, halo  
I can feel your halo, halo, halo  
I can see your halo, halo, halo_

Each line we sang was more passionate than the last. The final line was, of course, served up on a silver platter to Mercedes because only she could add the harmonies that made us all shiver and cry and smile all at the same time.

After my girl stole our breaths yet again, within a second she was in the centre of the biggest of group hugs.

**Mercedes**

"If for some crazy, inexcusable reason I don't get to speak to you before we're all made into rubble and bits," I shook my head at Artie's bluntness, "then be strong. You've been the best friend to me since I met you, and I'm gonna miss you so much. I'll carry your voice in me until the end," he pounded his chest just to emphasise his point.

We were outside of the school building, saying our goodbyes. Once our meeting was ended by me finally getting to claim the spotlight and sing my heart out – thanks to Sam, for allowing me to feel so passionately – our last Glee club meeting was over. I had said goodbye to everyone, and the most heartfelt goodbyes – though we knew we would see each other again soon – came from Blaine and Kurt. They both ambushed me in hugs and kisses, and now I was saying goodbye to Artie.

"Boy, what are you doing, showing emotion and shit?" I asked, which is what he had once said to me when I was having self-esteem issues. "Nah, you know I love you so much, Artie. You're the best, and you gotta continue to be the best. But I've got to see you at least one more time before the end. Okay?"

He nodded his head, a bit too vigorously to stop himself from crying. "Cool! Bye Whiter-Than-Me."

"Bye, Art-Diva." I kissed his cheeks, and that was all the proper goodbyes done with. Whenever I'd next see them, we'd meet like we would've done any other day. That was the best way to keep our calm and sanity.

Finally, I was left with the man who'd managed to break and fix me in the past week. Sam enveloped me in his arms.

We stood that way for a while – breathing into each other and just staying locked in the other's embrace.

"Merce…" he whispered.

"Hmm?"

"I'll stay like this for ever, you know?" I nodded against his chest. "So you'll have to order me to get the hell away from you."

"Who said I want you to stop?"

His arms tightened around me in response.

Eventually, though, I was starting to feel restless. Luckily my growling stomach decided to speak up for me.

"Yeah…I love you too," Sam said, grinning as I pulled away.

"Glad I didn't have to say it, then." I stuck out my tongue.

"Let me walk you home." For the first time since…ever, we walked outside holding hands. We talked about absolute random things like the colour of the sky, why people were lactose intolerant; which led to Sam saying that he was craving some whipped cream with fries.

I was going to joke and ask if he was pregnant or something, but that would have been weird territory with the Quinn situation taking place only a few hours ago.

"That sounds disgusting," I said instead.

We were on my street now, and he stopped in his tracks. "You've never had fries with whipped cream before?"

"You really are insane," I said, grabbing his arm and tugging him along.

"That's definitely on our list."

I was going to ask what the hell this list was for, but I took a few seconds to figure it out. "A Do Before We Die list?" He nodded, pulling my arm around his toned back and placing his arm around my shoulders. "Are we going to make those?"

"Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?"

It hurt me to speak so matter-of-factly about our impending death. But why? It was going to happen, there was no avoiding it. This was now a part of our short lives. "It does. And I think three weeks will be more than enough."

"We can cross one off our list."

I knew what he was referring to – us finally getting to be together. As we got to my house, he bent low so his eyes met mine. Before our lips could meet, his breathy words fluttered against my lips. The boy was slick; at some point, he had started sucking on a peppermint. I didn't know if he was aware or not, but that scent had the potential to undo me. "We're friends, right?"

"Best of," I whispered back.

He puckered his lips in thought. "Are we…soul mates?"

"I think so, don't you?"

"Definitely. I just had to establish a…uh…" He clicked his fingers as he tried to think of the appropriate word.

"Foundation?"

"That's it. Yeah, I wanted to establish a foundation. So, we gotta make this official. So…will you be my girlfriend, Mercedes?"

My heart skipped a beat, and heat flooded my cheeks. Yeah – we'd confessed our love for each other already. But asking me that one little question was enough to make me breathless and shy. "Yes, of course I will."

"Thank God! Like, you know, I wasn't sure how you felt about me…" I smiled and rolled my eyes. "I love when you do that," he commented.

"Do what?" We walked the last few steps to the gates.

"Roll your eyes. You do it all the time, but you do it a lot with me. It's not supposed to be a good thing but -"

"It is a good thing. You _own_ this eye roll, Sammy Daddy."

Yeah – I set myself up for this. "And you own this-" he burst open his jacket as he rolled his body, thrust his hips and licked his lips "you _own_ this body roll!"

A sparkling laugh blossomed in my chest and through my lips. I rolled my eyes again, "Sam-" He did another, more powerful body roll this time. "What- are you going to do that every single time I roll my eyes?"

"Yep."

I shook my head. "Whatever. Are you coming inside?"

He chewed his bottom lip as he looked at the time on his phone. "Nah, I'll come tomorrow, okay?"

I did my best to hide my disappointment; now, I wanted to spend all of my time with him.

But as I felt disappointed, he somehow seemed excited about something.

"Yeah…sure," I replied, slightly suspicious of the glint in his eyes.

"Um…don't eat much tonight. I wanna take you out t-tomorrow and…well, you know, I-I don't want you to be too full. So…yeah. Light snack, okay?"

"I wasn't planning on eating much anyway?"

"Good! That's good."

Not wanting to cause any more rifts or tension by voicing my suspicion, I ignored his strange behaviour. "Kiss me goodnight then, Sam."

He pressed one large hand to the small of my back, and leaned in to capture my bottom lip in a soft kiss. We placed sweet, chaste kisses on the other's lips before I pulled away.

My mind had changed: I adored Sam so much. He was smart – despite what he and others said - and funny and generous and thoughtful and brave. He was everything to me, has always been and always will be. I was ready to die with him

I was ready to make love to him. I've shared everything else with him apart from my body, apart from my bed.

It took me a while, but I realised that this was how I'd been feeling all along.

I mean, there was also the fact that there was only three weeks left to physically perfect our relationship. But I was still ready, for myself, to do this with him.

He seemed oblivious though, and I started to wonder that maybe he didn't want this from me. "Do me a favour, Cedes? Don't…don't fall asleep until I call you tonight. Please don't, okay?"

I nodded. "I'm not tired anyway."

"That's even better." He pressed his lips to mine once again before pulling away so I could walk through the gate to my house.

After waving one more goodbye to him, I walked inside, and watched through the peephole as he strode away, like he was in a hurry to be somewhere.

Or to get away?

**Sam**

This was definitely the perfect idea. Tonight was going to be perfect, and tomorrow was going to be even more amazing.

I hoped I was doing a good job of hiding my excitement from her. The idea almost gave me a headache, it was so powerful and epic.

I hoped I wasn't getting ahead of myself….

I didn't know if she was ready or willing or if she even wanted me to…

I didn't know what she was expecting.

It didn't matter though. Once my plan was underway, she would either make me the happiest man alive, or I would finally understand what she wants, and even that, I would accept. But I was banking on the fact that I knew my Mercedes, my Mercy, Ma Sweet, all too well, and I knew how'd she respond.

I was practically jogging home by this point.

It was possible that, after I got the ball rolling, that Mercedes and I could cross a handful of things off from our Do Before We Die list, regardless that we hadn't even written one yet.

**Mercedes**

Puck wasn't home when I walked in, and my parents said they hadn't seen him since he left the house earlier.

Before I had the chance to panic or have my parents worried, I texted him.

I was glad he was feeling considerate because within two minutes, he texted me back, saying he was fine, he was just dealing with things.

Puck wasn't stupid or constantly reckless like people believed, so I trusted his word. I told him to be home before Mom and Dad woke up in the morning, and he agreed with a **whatever, sis x. **

It was just after 8pm, and I went upstairs; I found it kind of funny how my parents seemed to be getting fed up of each other's company already.

_Just like normal times…_

So I decided to try and relax. In my bathroom, on the second floor, I started running a bath.

After an excruciatingly long process of undressing and brushing up my hair into a high ponytail, I sunk into the hot water, and reached over to my wicker basket full of fruity bath explosions. After unwrapping a honey and cherry flavoured bomb, I let it fizz and create bubbles in the bath.

The thick heat of the water along with the sweet smell made for a frighteningly good combination. The heavy worries on my mind weren't feeling as burdensome right now.

I know the oncoming asteroid was basically a big elephant in the room, but there was nothing to be done about it. Every single day, I woke with a feeling of fear and anxiety rooted in my heart.

What if I accidentally slept three weeks away, and the world was ending _tomorrow_? Is it really going to be that bad – will every single living and breathing thing on this Earth die? Will the whole planet just crumble away and scatter throughout space?

Will it literally be like we never existed, apart from a rock here and a strand of DNA there?

Or will a part of the land survive?

What if that part was Lima, Ohio? What if I…Mom, Dad or Puck…what if we didn't die…

Sam quickly entered my head.

What if him and I survived as well?

Imagine…

I sank into the water – making sure the hot water covered my face. I needed to wake myself up from those stupid thoughts. _What kind of fluffy clouds, lollipops-and-rainbows shit was that?_

I let my thoughts drift to trivial, positive and un-asteroid related topics that existed in the world.

Once ten minutes had passed, I found myself actually relaxing.

Somehow, Sam infiltrated my mind again. But differently, this time.

After I was able to realise that I wanted Sam to be the one to take my virginity, my thoughts started dirtying, and images of us together flooded my mind.

I was only half aware that I was dragging my nails along the skin of my forearms, imagining Sam's warmth completely enveloping me, reaching every single part of my body...

With my foot, I nudged the cold tap on whilst simultaneously unplugging the bathtub with the other. I hurriedly splashed my skin and face with the cold water to freeze and erase my sexual fantasies about Sam, no matter how much I wanted to explore them.

I was getting ahead of myself. Maybe Sam didn't even want me that way.

But if he did, I didn't want my first time to have already taken place inside my head…

It took longer than usual for me to lethargically moisturize my body with honey and vanilla body lotion, and finally I could feel the cool sensation of my deep purple silk pyjama pants and camisole tickling my skin.

As boring as it sounded, I was planning to read all night tonight.

There was this book that Santana gave me for my birthday last year. It was a week late because she didn't even know it was my birthday. The book had still had its price sticker on the cover, and it wasn't even wrapped.

Not that I cared about presents that much, but this gift, I kind of wished it _was_ wrapped.

It was a romance-slash-erotic novel and _"it doesn't hold back on the goods"_, she had told me. Apparently, it contained aspects of Kama Sutra, bondage, ménage á trios, dress up and _"other freaky crap."_

I hid that book like it was my own filthy secret. I had forgotten about it often enough, but the moments when I did remember it; I was always too nervous to open up to the first page.

I was scared that it would suddenly ignite some sort of fire inside me, and that I'd want to have sex with Shane just to relieve that sexual tension.

That wouldn't have been fair at all, and it wasn't decent of me.

So away that book stayed.

But now, though…well, things were slightly different. This was me living on the edge, before the world ended – reading smut late at night.

Listening to the hungry sounds coming from my stomach, I went downstairs to say goodnight to my parents and maybe grab something to eat.

I didn't verbally exclaim 'what the hell?' but the look of horror, amusement and confusion were all mixed on my face.

_My parents were doing shots._

My mom was in the middle of holding something in her mouth, face soured and eyes closed, with a shot glass in her hand.

My dad couldn't contain his laughter as he was counting seconds.

I stood there, locked in place, as he finally reached eighteen and my mom swallowed whatever alcohol she was in the midst of consuming.

"Well done, sweetie."

Still rolling her tongue to get rid of the taste, she waved to me. "Hey, baby."

"What…"

"Sambuca." My dad explained, seeing my confusion.

"You just...did a shot of Sambuca?"

"Like a diva! At least I drank my shot. Your weak-ass daddy over here-"

"Hey! It's not that I didn't like -"

"Couldn't handle," Mom corrected.

He narrowed his eyes, and that made me giggle. "No. It's just…I uh, remembered something shocking while I was drinking the tequila, and -"

"Lies!" Mom declared, and both she and I laughed at my dad's scowl.

I don't know why, but I felt so happy that they were happy just then. Seeing them having so much fun and just letting loose; it was a lovely (yet disconcerting) sight to see.

I left them to it.

"I'm going to bed early, alky parents." They both exchanged mischievous, amused glances. Of course I was glad that they were enjoying themselves, but it was kind of creeping me out too.

"So! Goodnight. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night, baby cakes," my mom said, reaching up from the floor to give me a kiss on the cheek.

"Sleep well, sleepy head." I hugged my dad before hurrying up the stairs when I heard my dad whisper 'round 4.' It wouldn't have bothered me so much if I wasn't left wondering…round 4 of what?!

Finally I got to my room, switched on my bedside lamp, put on my reading glasses and snuggled under the covers of my king-sized bed.

I was afraid that _Diamonds and Other Hard Things Girls Like _would just be full of sex and all sorts, and be terribly written and trashy as a result.

The first few pages actually got me hooked and interested.

I was just finishing chapter two – the slightly drunken male character was discovering some unfamiliar lacy underwear strewn over the floor of his _girlfriend's_ apartment before he heard female moaning coming from their bedroom – when two things happened.

The first – my stomach hungrily protested, reminding me that I still didn't get anything to eat.

The second, my phone was ringing.

Drawing myself out of the world of fictional words which were beginning to make me feel flustered, I checked the time on my phone as I was about to answer; 11:15pm already.

"Hello?"

I didn't check out the caller ID, so my heart did an unexpected flip in my chest when I heard Sam say, "hey Mercy, baby."

His voice was so smooth and deep, that I found myself chewing my bottom lip. "Hey, Sammy Daddy."

He took a sharp intake of breath, before speaking again. Glad to know I had some control over him, too. "There's something I want you to check out. Step outside for a sec?"

I pushed my glasses up my nose. "Excuse me?"

The giddiness he was displaying earlier was now evident in his voice. "Please, please, please, please, please?" He whined. "Just for one sec, step outside. You can't…um, can't see it from your room. Two seconds."

As I sighed and slid my feet into my slippers, I asked, "I thought it was gonna take _one_ second?"

"Yeah, one second. It'll be worth it."

"So I need to go outside, leave my very warm bed, at this time of night to see what exactly?"

"You'll know it when you see it. Quickly. Are your parents home?"

"Yup," I said. I quietly snuck out my bedroom, and tiptoed down the stairs.

I didn't know what to expect when I got outside, and I thought that was all the more reason to keep my parents unknown to my activities.

"You're coming out, right?!" I was scared my parents would hear Sam excitedly shout down the phone, but their laughing voices coming from the living room told me otherwise.

"Yes!" I whispered, "just hang on." I left through the back door at the opposite end of the hall to my parents. They usually kept this door open, since Puck tended to enter and exit the house through this way. Since he wasn't home yet, it was luckily still unlocked.

I was greeted by a slight chill in the air, as I rounded the side of the house and made my way to the front lawn. I looked up to the sky, thinking it was something up there that had Sam bringing me out of the house to see.

"Hey!" Someone whispered.

My heart danced and raced, and my hand flew up to my chest.

Sam was leaning back against the iron gate which lined the front of the house.

"Oh my God, what are you doing, Sam?"

"Being spontaneous, darlin'."

I rushed up to the gate, clutching one of the cool bars with my fingers. His free hand went up to meet mine, and through one of the gaps, we shared a quick kiss.

"Can I come in?" He murmured in a low voice which could undo me and then make me up again.

"Are you -"

"And can I come into your room? Spend the night?"

"What?! My mom-"

"And can I feed you, and cuddle you, and kiss you, and touch you and do all the things you want me to?"

Like a flash, heat flooded my neck and cheeks. All of a sudden, my legs became the most unstable things one person could stand on. The images that I was conjuring up in my head of me and Sam…they were attacking my mind and body once more, with a vengeance.

"You mean sneak in…" His mouth seductively pulled on one side at the sound of my breathlessness.

"I've always wanted you to sneak me into your house late at night. Imagine that thrill…" I saw something in his face change, and I knew it was both a good and dangerous sign. "Wouldn't that be something wicked?"

Now was the time I decided to rid my mind of doubts, reservations and caution. This was Sam, and if I couldn't be reckless and impulsive with him, with only a measly few weeks of life left, then…well, I'd just be a boring coward, wouldn't I? "Sure, Sammy Daddy. Watching a big, strong, tall guy like you manage to sneak up to my room…well I think that'd be impressive as hell."

I watched him swallow hard, and that told me that he hadn't been counting on me flirting back.

**Sam**

I really wasn't expecting her to flirt back like that. To be honest, I thought she'd just roll her eyes and chew me out for being so reckless.

But she honestly seemed to like it, and that was threatening to crack my bravado. I guessed this YOLO attitude going around had the potential to change a person's behaviour.

"Only problem is…" she said, "this gate can be pretty noisy to open sometimes. And I don't wanna draw any attention to what we're up to..."

The gate wasn't all that high and there was a climbable brick wall beside the iron. I've climbed it once as a dare already, and this time I had adrenaline on my side. I snaked my goodie bag through the gate, and with a confused expression, she accepted it.

"No peeking," I instructed, before retreating and then taking a running leap towards the wall. My feet managed to get a good grip in one of the crevices and my hands managed to grasp the top, and Mercedes' startled gasp fuelled me to keep going. I finished climbing the wall, and debated whether I should leap down and risk breaking my leg, or scale down the gate like last time.

"Sam, what the hell?" She hissed. Was it weird to find that being scolded by Mercedes was kind of a turn on? "Get down before-"

"Before what – before I _die_?" She winced, unsure of how to respond to that. "Think I can jump down from here?"

Now she was paying me back for my distasteful joke. "If you take the proper way down, then…"

"Then what? You'll grant me a wish?"

"Yeah, whatever, just get down here."

Was she purposefully setting herself up for no good? I didn't care. Turning to the other side of the wall, I shuffled to the gate and managed to slide (clamber) down the iron.

The rattling of the metal and the squealing sound of my sneakers against the iron was loud enough to be heard. That made me jump down the rest of the way, and that movement only jerked the gates even more.

"Shit," she whispered.

Grabbing her free hand, I pulled her back the way I saw her come. We had just reached the safety of the shadows when the porch light was switched on.

Mercedes took over, leading me into her house.

My heart was pounding wildly, and my muscles felt ready for war.

This was more exhilarating than I'd thought it would be. We crept back into the house, and Mercedes gently pushed the door closed behind us.

We tiptoed up the hall, listening to her parents' bemused voices. The staircase was right by us, but her mom seemed to be close to the living room entrance.

Silently, I took the bag from her tense hand and just went for it – being as light as possible on my feet as I took the stairs two at a time.

"Mercedes?" I heard her mom ask as I rounded the banister.

"Oh…mom, hey…" As I heard her trying to make up something about what was going on, I headed up to the second floor where I knew her room was situated.

Not ten seconds later, I heard Mercedes follow after me. "Last on the right," she quietly directed me.

The rush from sneaking into her house was still zinging through my body. I honestly felt like I could do anything right now. I kicked off my shoes as I walked further into her room. I was noticing the purples and creams before hearing the door close behind me.

I let out a nervous chuckle. "Yes, I'm crazy. But I couldn't-" When I turned around, she ran into me, forcing us to tumble back on her giant bed.

Her soft lips were puckered against mine before I had the chance to think, and they parted for me to slide my tongue into her mouth. She raked her hands through my hair, and that drove me up the wall. Her ample breasts were pushed against my rapidly rising and falling chest. My lower lip was captured between her teeth, and my involuntary moan had her smirking against my lips. Ever so softly, her thigh was making contact with my crotch and I don't think she even realised that was happening.

Before I could react, she gave this hot, throaty chuckle and then pulled away to fall back next to me on her bed. After taking a breath, she asked, "so what's in the bag?"

There was no dignity in the way I was panting, gasping for air. My heart was still racing, my mind was a fog of thoughts, my palms were sweaty, and blood was rushing through me; threatening to head right towards my pride and joy down south. Any words were literally stuck in my throat. I could feel heat flooding my cheeks, feeling myself blushing. "I've always wanted to make a man speechless," she purred. Why the hell would she say that? Those words said in that smooth voice belonging only to this beautiful woman – it was all too much. "That's what you get for trying to get _both_ of our asses whooped, Sam!" She poked me hard in my arm.

Finally, I was broken from my daze. "What the hell just happened?"

She smiled softly. "I just got you back," she winked. "We have to be quiet, because I _do_ actually want you to make it through the night."

Still recovering from that heated moment, I nodded in agreement. "Me too." I reached over the edge of the bed to pick up the bag I had brought. "I love your glasses, by the way."

I heard the confusion in her voice. "You've seen me in them before?"

"Well, they look extra sexy tonight." Reaching into the bag, I pulled out a still warm box of fries and a can of whipped cream.

"Um, I'm not-"

I sat up straight, food in hand, and looked right into her pretty brown eyes. "You're gonna try it. For me."

"Hell to the no, Sam." As she said this, she pointlessly shook her head against something we both knew was going to happen. I shook the can, and sprayed just a bit on a section of the fries. Her stomach growled, and I couldn't help but smile.

She pouted as I took out two fries covered in cream, and brought it to her lips. They were clamped shut, though.

"Cedes, c'mon, just try it."

She shook her head, unwilling to speak in case I seized that opportunity. I held her jaw in my hands and pressed a lingering kiss to her mouth. "For me, just try it. You're gonna like it, Mercy. Mercy baby. Ma Sweet." She rolled her eyes at me, but kept her mouth closed. _Fine, we'll play dirty._ "Am I gonna have to use my lips, now? Maybe use these hands…" I brushed my fingers down her chest and then down her arm. "Or maybe you'll open your precious mouth for me if I use this huge erection of mine to make you scream my name-" I didn't need to say anymore, her jaw dropped in shock and I used that chance to pop the whipped cream topped fries onto her tongue.

She slapped my hand away, but my delicious snack was already in her mouth…and I wasn't even intending for that to sound as dirty as it did.

I smiled as she reluctantly chewed, and her eyebrows rose. "Can't even lie, Sam – that actually tastes really good."

"Uh-uh," I muttered. I took out the remaining two fries with whipped cream on them and fed them to her. As she opened her mouth for another bite, she reached for the can and fries. I crossed my legs and faced her.

"You're a genius when it comes to stupid food combinations." Mercedes shook the can in her hands. She picked out several fries, placed only the ends in her mouth so the other halves stuck out, and she leaned closer to me. Meeting her halfway, I bit down in the middle so we could share them. I opened my mouth for her to spray some whipped cream onto my tongue, and then she did the same for herself.

She smiled guiltily at me, and I winked back.

As we comfortably and silently shared the fries and cream, my eyes fell upon an open book that was face-down on her pillow.

It was the hot and steamy picture on the cover which caught my attention.

Oh so innocently, I asked "so whatcha reading?" I had the joy of watching her eyes widen in horror, and she seemed to be debating whether to try and hide it or come up with some lame excuse. "Jig's up, Jonesy."

She sighed, after feeding me one of the remaining fries, and leaned back to retrieve her book.

"Santy bought it for me."

She held the book out for me to read the title – and I smirked at her nervousness. "You know – if you never seemed so guilty about it – I wouldn't have cared what book you were reading. But seeing your reaction," my eyes roamed over the cover before flipping to the pages she was reading "made me very interested."

She wrung her hands as she let me skim the book as I pleased. I pretty much got the gist of it though: sex, sex, sex.

She knew very well about my dyslexia, and it was something that I'd never felt comfortable talking about or displaying in front of anyone, but I didn't fight so hard to hide it with Mercedes. And this was why: "Are you seriously gonna read that chick-smut?" She asked.

She never assumed that I couldn't read or understand something; she always made me ask if I needed help. At first, I hated that because it was so hard to ask. Sometimes, I wouldn't, and I'd just suffer in silence. But she stopped allowing that.

_One time, we were waiting in her father's dentistry; Mr. Jones had amazingly offered me, my parents and siblings a free check-up. I'd had mine the week before, but I was there for Stevie and Mercedes had offered to keep me company. As we waited for him to come out from his appointment, Mercy was flipping through some crappy magazines and newspapers and I was getting bored. I reached over her to pick up some random sports mag – it was the most current of the stack._

_I was only looking at the pictures, since they were what always kept me interested but then Mercedes heard me gasp at an article headline. "No way," I muttered._

_One of the minor league baseball teams I supported had a game that went soap-opera wrong._

_But the article also reported some of the court cases which led up to and followed the huge scandal. It basically contained big, legal words which I couldn't even begin to make out._

_It was so frustrating because it was my favourite player that was involved, and there were so many difficult words that they immediately jumbled up in my head, blocking my vision._

_Mercedes hated it when I didn't try to read something, and she hated it even more when I didn't ask for help._

_I'm ashamed to admit that I spent five minutes roaming my eyes over the blocks of text, pretending to read it because Mercedes already knew that I'd wanted to read it, and I was actually a bit scared of how she'd react._

_Once I felt like it was long enough time, I began turning the page._

_Ha! No fucking way. Mercedes' observational skills were mad good. "What happened?" She didn't lift her eyes away from her magazine._

_"Oh…just some drama on the field."_

_"Seriously? What happened?"_

_"Oh…I'm finished with it, if you wanna read."_

_"Nah, I just want to know about the story."_

_"Nothing special. Fighting, probably."_

_"Probably? You just read it, Sam."_

_"Wasn't really focusing on it-"_

_"For five minutes?" By this point, heat was rushing to my face and I was blushing with a passion. I heard her sigh. "You didn't even try." Her voice was no louder than a whisper, but the disappointment was loud and clear._

_"I did," I whispered back, trying not to catch any attention from other waiting patients._

_"You didn't, Sam. I watched you-"_

_"Why were you watching me?" I looked around the room, trying not to unleash my angry embarrassment on her. "Why do you even care?"_

_This was when our true, unspoken feelings were about to become completely raw and new for us to see. It was a whole year since we became friends, and by that time, we were extremely close._

_She nibbled the inside of her lip, but she held her ground. "You know how much I care about you. You're my best friend. And I don't want to see you give up like that." My heart swelled, and I had to swallow it back down. Just as I was about to open my mouth to speak, she continued. "And if you care enough about me, Samuel, then you'll do this for me. Read that article to me, or ask me to help you."_

_"No, I-"_

_"I have to ask my teachers all the time how to spell words or pronounce words, or I have to have something explained to me because I really don't understand it."_

_"Well…that's different. You're in AP classes-"_

_"Which makes it even more difficult because I'm the only one who doesn't understand."_

_I huffed. "But you're not my teacher!"_

_"No, I'm your friend."_

_"Best friend," I quietly corrected._

_"Yes. And that should make it easier because I just wanna help, like how you help me. Remember when I was singing along to that Red Solo Cup song of yours, and I got the lyrics wrong. You straight up corrected me."_

_"I'm-"_

_"And when I asked you to explain football to me, when we were with the guys, because I was cheering for a foul? Or when you had to remind me that Star Wars was nothing like Star Trek?"_

_"But-"_

_She laughed at the next memory. "Remember when we were all working on those original songs? And we were researching random things for inspiration? And I was reading something aloud to you guys, some book about how to rhyme?"_

_I had to smile. "You said a cup board instead of a cupboard."_

_She nodded. "And I had to read it again, like, five times. 'Cup board? What the hell's a cup board?' And while everyone was laughing their asses off, you're the one that said 'Cedes – it's a cupboard.' Those are the times you corrected me, but there's been loads more times that you've helped me-"_

_"I know, Mercy. I was being dumb."_

_She let out a breath. "That was exhausting." I sheepishly smiled at her. "Now can you read the article to calm me down?"_

_I hesitantly nodded, and turned to her. "You gonna help me? Even if I can't say the easy words?"_

_She looked down to her hands. "I'll help with everything, Sam. I'm always going to be here for you, the way you'll hopefully be here for me."_

_That was the day I realised, with my whole heart, that I was falling hard for this girl._

From then on, I was getting better at letting her help me out. And that, in turn, meant I could do better at reading and writing when I was on my own or when I was with anyone else.

Breaking away from my fond but serious memories, I opened the book to a random page in the middle.

"No, I'm not gonna read it. I want you to read it to me." Her brow immediately furrowed in refusal. "It's your book! And it's you who can't seem to handle a little explicit description. And plus – after all the times you've made me read to you, you could at least return the favour." Mercedes still looked as if she might say no. Then I remembered something else. "This is my wish. For climbing down the gate earlier. I want you to read the first dirty bit you can find."

Her eyes glinted at the challenge. "Why?" She whined.

"Because it'll be sexy. And it's making you squirm already." I tickled the side of her stomach. Batting my hand away, she huffed, and took the book from me. After her eyes fell on the page, she said honestly, "this part's not even all that bad. But Santy made sure to dog-ear the 'good' parts'." I watched as a look of concentration etched her face. Several pages previous to the random one I selected, she stopped. "You asked for this, alright?"

I nodded, changing my position to lean on my side beside her. She shuffled closer to me, brought her knees up to her chest and held the book out around her legs.

**Mercedes**

There was no denying the gentle stir of arousal inside me.

Santana surprised me – she obviously picked out a sexual scene as one of her favourites but this one wasn't straight crude or dirty. It was explicit, no less, but there was a sense of passion and love, too.

Sam was breathing heavily as I continued to read; right when we reached the part about the man drizzling melted chocolate across his woman's back and placing chocolate kisses all over her skin, Sam sat up. He trapped me in between his long, toned legs and was leaning in close as he listened to me read. I turned too, extending my legs over his thighs so my feet pointed behind him, with only the book to separate us.

"'…_the feel of his woman beneath him made Eric feel like the most **powerful **man on the planet. The way she could make him crumble and lose his sense of control just by whispering or screaming his name made Eric feel like the most **powerless** man on the planet. _

_With the sweet chocolate smoothed over her even sweeter skin, he bathed her with his tongue and lips. He recognised the point when she went into inner conflict with herself: she began to squirm._" Sam made this smug sound in his throat, referring to when I was squirming eariler. _"Catherine was trying so desperately to allow herself to be worshipped by this man on top of her: sucking her clean of any white chocolate – her favourite kind – drizzled on her back. She knew he was in a very affectionate mood – that he wanted to be playful and teasing and he wanted to be played and teased in return. _

_But that desire was both of their undoing because Catherine found his sensitivity to be extremely arousing. The idea that he was being gentle with her warmed her heart. Yet the fact that she could easily flip them over, slide herself onto his strong and throbbing erection and take what she wanted from him was completely tempting. He'd give her the best, most pleasing orgasm ever, in any way she wanted; just like the way he'd given her the impressive diamond necklace she was currently clutching in her hand. _

_Yes, she knew it. She was done with the playfulness now. Once she claimed her time to tease him in return, then they'd be done with-'_ Sam…what…"

I was so engrossed in the novel that I didn't notice Sam had silently reached for the whipped cream.

Pushing away the thin strap of my silk pyjama top, he sprayed a trail of whipped cream dots along my left shoulder and neck. There was only a cool sensation on my skin from the contact.

I knew exactly what he was doing; our sexy reading time had me longing for some touches and kisses, too. I guess that's why my mind was a haze of desire, and there were passionate tingles fluttering in my stomach and heading south. And I guess that's what made me say; "so you're still hungry for sugar, Sammy Daddy?" I honestly don't know what possessed me to say that.

I'd never heard a man growl before, apart from on the football field when I was forced to watch Shane play sometimes.

But Sam growled now, and it came from the animal deep within him. It was all alpha male, and hot.

His lips kissed and licked the first drop of whipped cream from my shoulder, and he made sure to get all of it. I sucked my lip into my mouth and closed my eyes at the electricity exploding beneath my skin from the contact.

"Keep reading," he instructed.

"What?" I don't think I even whispered that, but Sam heard.

"Don't. Stop. Reading." He punctuated the final word with a gentle bite of my skin over the next bit of cream.

After a sharp intake of breathe and a slight shiver, I opened my eyes and made them focus back on the page. "'_He'd give her the best, most pleasing-_'" I whimpered – the fucking hell, I _whimpered_! – when I felt Sam's teeth softly bite into my shoulder again. "You read that part already," he murmured. He quickly soothed my skin with a careful lick against it, making sure to take some more of the cream away with his tongue.

"Oh. Um…here: '_Once she claimed her time to tease him in return, then they'd be done with all the sweet foreplay. Little did Catherine know that Eric's mind was already one step ahead. He was aiming to lull her into a false sense of security. Sooner or later, he knew that she'd want her turn to play too. And as soon as she decided to put that into action, he wasn't going to give it to her. _

_They were equals in wealth, in love, in personality, in worth and all of the other real world aspects. In this bedroom though – there could only be one lover to dominate, to take control at any one time. Sure, they could make love _together_. But they were doing more than that right now. He'd take her and make them climax together the way he wanted her to. And once she recovered- if she ever could – then he'd let her have her chance to tell him what to do.'" _I was pausing and tripping over the words, not frequently, but occasionally; and it was down to both Sam sighing when he liked a particular sentence while he continued lapping both me and the cream up, as well as the words themselves.

But I carried on. "'_It's safe to say that a true back and forth was taking place between the thoughts of Eric and Catherine, unbeknownst to either one of the two lovers. He captured her slender back between his powerful thighs, pressing his hard penis against her backside. Upon hearing her hiss his name, he easily assumed that he would definitely be the one to take control once he finished kissing away the remaining ribbons of warm chocolate. _

_How wrong he was, reader. Eric knew that Catherine wasn't one to be taken over unless she allowed it, which explains the large and hard cold diamond in her tightening grasp. He seemed to forget this, though. But no – Eric's biggest weakness was about to give Catherine the strength to make him beg for her to finish dominating him. His complete surrender would arrive when her soft lips closed around his large and hard erection. And by coveting this upper hand through her sexual technique, she'd get to keep it for round two because he'd be too weak and undone to try to claim it back.'" _

"God, that's hot," Sam remarked, pressing his lips to my neck. He puckered and nuzzled his lips to the highest spot before kissing me on my lips.

And this boy had some cream on his bottom lip. I caught it between my teeth, making sure to simultaneously graze my tongue against it too.

"Cedes," he whispered, and I felt his hands tremble on my legs.

"Sam," I breathed; slipping my tongue between his parted lips, taking control just like Catherine did in the story. Sam seemed to appreciate that because his hands roamed up to my waist.

I had just slid my hands beneath the hem of his cotton v-neck to brush against his smooth and muscled stomach when the bed vibrated.

"Doesn't matter," he said into my mouth, his hands continuing to press higher on my waist. I realised that it was his phone vibrating in his pocket, and by its repetition, I knew it was a phone call.

Pulling away from him, even when he tried to kiss me again, I gestured towards his cell with one hand whilst picking up the can of cream with the other. Reluctantly, he slipped his phone from his jeans. With his smouldering dark eyes sexually tormenting me, he took a deep breath to calm himself – probably to keep away the frustration from his voice too – and answered the phone.

I held petty grudges: so I wanted to get him back for teasing me with his kisses and nips whilst I was reading. I rapidly shook the can, shoved up his t-shirt and sprayed his abs with whipped cream, just as he said hello to Blaine.

The muscles in his stomach deliciously clenched, and his voice suddenly went raspy. As my tongue poked his abs before I started to lick and suck away the cream, I had him stuttering and clearing his throat to remain composed.

No; this wasn't at all like me. The Mercedes Jones I knew wouldn't ever think of doing something like this with anyone. At all.

But it somehow felt like it was exactly like me, that this was a side of Mercedes Jones I just hadn't discovered yet. And I was relieved and grateful that I got to greet my sexuality with open arms right now, before the chance was obliterated forever.

I wanted to try everything with Sam; I wanted all of him to myself.

But I just wanted to know that – regardless of his flirting and teasing and excitement – that he truthfully wanted me, too.

I made sure to kiss each individual muscle in his stomach after I devoured the whipped cream. His conversation was a blur in my ears, and when he wrapped his hand around the back of my neck, there was nothing else around us. Heat popped all over my body at his possessiveness.

My lips made their way up to this strong chest, collarbone and then throat. I pressed gentle kisses all along his throat and chin, and I felt it vibrate when he spoke.

Finally satisfied with my helping of dessert, I sat up straight and ran my fingers back through his soft, dark blonde hair. I even scratched his scalp slightly, and his eyes closed in pleasure as he said something else to Blaine and then said goodbye before snapping his phone shut.

"Mercedes." That was all he said as I raked my hands through his air.

The book had long ago fallen between our bodies, face up and now showing a different page.

I giggled at his hum of content. I leaned in to sweetly kiss his mouth.

He managed to regain his senses now. "Blaine must have thought I was touching myself or something, because of you, missy. Making me sigh and stutter."

"Oops," I said without a shred of an apology in my tone.

He didn't seem to be aware of doing it, but he collected my small hands in his bigger ones as he spoke. "Sure. But…Blaine invited us to a rave."

"Hm? When?"

"Right now," he answered, lips moving against my knuckles.

"What...? Now? Where? Why?"

He chuckled at my confusion. "Rave. Yes. All Saints Avenue. End of the world." He carried on showering the back of my hand in attention with his mouth.

"But…it's just after midnight. Is he crazy?"

"Why can't we be crazy? Might as well, these are our only chances." Sam's hands tightened around mine, and he was still grazing his lips against my fingers.

"But it wouldn't be like the party we threw?"

He shook his head against my hands. "Crazier."

That set off a million thoughts flying inside my head. "Would you seriously go?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "It's Blaine. Plus Kurt, Santana, Brittany and Sugar will be there. Sounds safe enough. And it's not that far away." He turned my hands over, wanting to places kisses into my palms now. "It would be serious fun, I can tell you that."

"But do you wanna go?"

He lifted his eyes to mine – a green forest fire literally blazing in those two depths – and he raised an eyebrow. "You know I'll go with you to wherever."

I had to admit it: despite all the potential danger and recklessness, my heart raced at the thought of sneaking out of the house, with a boy I had snuck in, to rave in the middle of the night. It'd be so exciting and fun.

"But it depends what you want to do tonight, my love. I'll gladly stay here with you, and I'll do what you want me to do. To you."

But did I even care about the rave though?

Yes, I wanted to go.

But staying here with Sam and…if I was correct in assuming that he was implicating sex, then it would be a straightforward choice - like deciding between spending a day in heaven or the Lima Bean café; sex being the former.

And if Sam thought he was fairly placing an argument for both situations, then he needed to think twice about his last point. "I'll - I'll _take_ what you want me to take from you. And I'll treasure it always."

Of course I wanted to do this with him. I'd been dreaming of it for so long now, and it was plaguing my thoughts right now too.

But this rave was for one night. Sure there'd be more, but who's to say I'd be able to go to another? It was a spur of the moment; one of few I've ever had. Imagine if I got to do this! My virginity wasn't going anywhere right now. I could give it to Sam tomorrow, or next week or on the final day we have to spend before the asteroid hits us.

But could I really play with time like that? Could I really assume that I'd have a future to do this? Sure, there was supposed to be three weeks left. However, they could have made a mistake. What if tomorrow was when the asteroid came?

I couldn't think like that. I had to cherish each and every single day that was given to me, to us.

Sam obviously was leaving the choice up to me, and his clamping my hands to his neck whilst nipping the skin of my forearms was not helping anything. It only took my breath away, and made my room feel so much warmer than it was.

My impulses and heartfelt desires were going to battle inside me, and my current dilemma was their battleground.

* * *

**So; what did you think? Pretty PLEASE share your opinions (bad or good).**

**I haven't decided whether they go out to the rave or _not. _Should they go out or stay in? Votes please.**

**Something exciting will happen either way, promise.**

**And do I need to change this to Rating M or is it okay?**

**Oh, and I wrote that erotic novel extract myself; it's all my words. You can probably tell lol**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N I am SO sorry it's been so long since I last updated, and that's because of one thing: university (my first year).**

**It literally just swamped everything, but I did try to write, I swear.**

**Anyway, no more excuses. If you're still sticking with me and this story, thank you so much. ****I love each of my readers.**

**And I may slowly be working this fanfcition to an M, just to warn you. **

**Not owning Glee, obviously.**

**Forgive any mistakes, and hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**Sam**

I could see the war going on in her eyes.

But I would honestly do whatever she wanted to do - it was her choice.

I continued to shower her hands in kisses, bites and licks – being fuelled by her sighs of pleasure - before she made a decision.

"The…" she swallowed when I met her deep brown eyes, "the nights will only become more special from here." My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Can we go? I know my first…our first time _together_ is going to be so special. And I wanna hold on to that. But I also want to do everything else with you. Sneaking out to a rave included."

It made my heart stumble when I saw both disappointment and excitement mix on her face. I held her hands tighter so she'd look up at me. "That night is going to be one special and amazing night. Because it's us."

Her cheeks darkened with a blush. "Do you want that, Sam? I mean…d-do you want that from…me? Do you…want me like that?"

Before she could even finish the question, I was already repeating "Yes." She looked up, seemingly shocked by my bluntness. "I can't say yes enough without scaring you off. So yes – I want to be the one to take your sweet virginity. I wanna be the one to make love to you. I want us to connect like that. I want you to scream my name." I closed my eyes and in my best high pitched voice, I screamed "'Sam. Sam. Oh God, yes, Sammy, baby, pleeassse don't st-"

She trapped my jaw in her hand, though she couldn't contain her chuckles. "Be quiet! My parents are gonna find out you're here."

"Nah, it just sounds like you're having fun on your own..."

She laughed harder. "Sam, you've lost it!"

I laughed too, as I removed her hand from my chin and held it in mine. "Yeah, well it's true. But…I've thought about it from when I first met you, Mercy. So again: yes, I wanna have sex with you." I took in a deep breath, trying my best not to let that God's honest truth change our minds. "But tonight…"

She grinned. "Tonight, we have a _real_ rave to sneak off to."

**Mercedes**

As soon as I said the words, my heart rate quickened.

We were doing this…

I could feel the battle starting to rage again – my senses beginning to scream at me to stay inside.

Sam must have seen it too, because he said "we're going. No questions. Now, let's go."

He was right. "Sam, I can't really go-"

"Yes you can! C'mon, there's nothing holding us back right now. Don't be-"

"I can't really go in my PJ's."

His reddening cheeks were definitely a sight to remember. "Oh. You could, though."

"I could, but why would I?" I winked at him, before pushing off of my bed and heading to my walk-in closet. "So what does one wear to a rave…?"

"God, Mercy, don't this to me."

"What?" I turned around to face him. "You actually look pretty great for it." That was definitely true. I had to admire his navy blue ankle boots, dark grey jeans, powder blue t-shirt and black leather jacket, which was folded on my pillow. "It actually looks like you were dressed for a party, Sammy."

He quirked an eyebrow and shook his head. "This was all for you, Ma Sweet."

Trying not to let him get any further beneath my skin, I turned back around to my rails of clothing to scan for an outfit.

Sam sighed again. "I'll give you two options-"

He was interrupted by two soft knocks on the door. My body froze, and for a fraction of a nanosecond, I blacked out.

"Cedes?" Someone whispered from the other side of the door; meaning I couldn't tell if it was my mom or dad.

Sam reacted quicker than I did, because he hurried past me into my walk in closet, and gently closed the doors behind him.

Too bad my reaction time was much slower and poorer than his. I didn't bother to clear the empty bag of fries or the almost empty can of whipped cream. The book also remained opened on my bed; I only had time to shove his jacket beneath it before there was another knock.

"Yeah?" I whispered, faking a sleepy voice. The door cracked open, and to my surprise, Puck's head peeked in. "You okay, Puck?"

He smiled a tired smile, but it looked sort of genuine, so I believed him when he nodded his head. "I was with Quinn."

"What happened?"

"Well, I was only with her for around an hour. The rest of the time, I was just…chilling." I didn't question what 'chilling' really meant, because he was home now, and he was fine.

"So you and Quinn…"

"I don't know." I nodded. "It sucks though. I mean, there's the decent thing to do and then there's…everything else. I mean, it doesn't matter now, does it? There's nothing we can do, so…"

I nodded again, understanding what he meant but utterly unsure of what to say in response.

"I guess if God can have any sort of pity on me, He'll provide a sign or an answer or…I don't fucking know, something to help."

"You always know what to do, Puck. It may take you awhile or you may just choose not to do it, but I know you can figure it out. You always do." He smiled at me. During this moment, I forgot about being scared about Sam in my wardrobe right now. "I would normally tell you to stick with her, be a man, do the right thing and all that. But…"

"Things aren't normal right now."

"Exactly. All I can say is…do what you want to. Or have to. Does that help?"

"Not right now but I bet it will tomorrow. It's like – at the beginning of every single hour, I forget that we're all going to die in like, a few weeks." There was a pang in my chest at that painful reminder. _The world's going to be destroyed…we're all going to be destroyed. I and everyone I know and love is going to die in just three weeks._ "But the next minute, I remember again. And it's all I can think of and it fucking hurts."

I didn't know what else to say. "So treasure the minutes when you do forget, and just…make the most of the minutes when you remember."

His eyes shone, staring directly into mine. "I guess." He looked away, and cleared his throat If I knew Puck, then he was now doing all he could to swallow back his emotions.

He needed what I needed – what everyone in the world probably needed right now; a distraction, something fun and reckless to do. "So-"

"So," he whispered, interrupting me, "when did Sam get here?"

Most of me went into shock and fear and embarrassment that he was actually onto us. But that annoying little voice in my subconscious mind was scoffing at me, belatedly reminding me that Sam's shoes were right by the bed.

Damn. "Damn. How'd you know it was Sam?"

He nodded towards his boots. "I gave him those, genius."

"Oh yeah. Damn it."

He smirked at me. "And whipped cream in a bedroom is never a good sign."

"We weren't even doing any-"

"Blah, blah, I don't really wanna hear about what you were doing. I don't care, and I'm not gonna grass you up. Although I should."

"And why should you?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Kicks. I've never had the opportunity to get you into trouble before, because you never did anything!"

I huffed. "Until now?"

"Yeah, but I'm not that mean."

At that moment, the closet doors opened.

Sam carefully and silently closed them before turning to face us and slapping his hands together. He must have heard our conversation, and he probably took a few moments to calm down and wait for the blush to leave his face at that last little bit.

**Sam**

Whatever was going on with Puck and Quinn was not enough to ruin my friendship with him, one of my closest friends.

So this was a peace offering. "Blaine invited us to a rave."

He chuckled once. "Yeah, he texted me."

"And…you're here?"

"Well, I wasn't gonna go…" Mercedes and I exchanged a look between us. "But I'm guessing you guys are?" We both nodded and grinned at the same time, making Puck sigh. "Nah, I'm missing this one. Gonna have a midnight ice-cream raid and punch a couple walls." I could see that Mercedes felt sorry for her brother, but her excitement was too hard to contain. Then Puck narrowed his eyes at the both of us. "Be careful, okay?"

I was about to ask why, since our safety no longer mattered; not with our impending death and everything. But it didn't have to be brought up all the time, even if it was constantly on our minds.

**Mercedes**

My heart was racing inside my throat.

Once dressed in my black skirt and pink leopard top, we raced out of the house straight towards the rave.

"Ok," I linked my arm through his as I continued, "this is gonna be wild, I feel it already."

"Especially if I have anything to do with it."

"What – what do you mean?"

"Nothing!"

Ignoring my suspicions, we rushed to the avenue, following the intense vibrations of music leaking its way up the roads and around street corners.

The anxiety was literally fluttering in the pit of my stomach.

**Sam **

The atmosphere was already swirling and pulsing around us, and when we actually got to the sea of ravers thrashing in the avenue, it had become overwhelming. Everywhere had practically been abandoned since the announcement, except where they had been taken over by the scared and insane and excited. It was exactly like a street party; only crazier and not like that at all.

"Kurt!"

At the sound of Mercy's almost drowned out shout, Kurt's head snapped around, and he broke out into a wide grin as he dragged Blaine and Sugar along, leading the rest over.

We lost sight of them several times as they neared, there were that many people.

Already, my body yearned for dancing, to literally have Mercedes' curves crushing into me, to lose our sanity in the sea of broken inhibitions. I saw this same thing in each of our friends. As they moved in accordance to the people dancing around us, I saw Brittany's hands mercilessly roaming beneath Santanta's top, I saw Kurt's ruffled hair (which was usually perfectly styled), the wild look in Blaine's eyes, the glowing paint smeared across Sugar's neck, and her nonstop swaying from side to side. She shoved a flask of something into Mercedes' hands, and before she could take a drink, I swiped it from her hands to try it first.

Something sweet, and slightly sour at the same time. It tasted alcoholic, but not. Santana was shouting something at me but I couldn't hear a word, the music was too loud. Blaine waved at us, before focusing his wild eyes onto Kurt and pulling him away through the throngs and throngs of people. I brought the flask to Mercy's lips, and our eye contact never broke as she swallowed what I offered to her.

Brittany and Santana were too busy making out with each other, hands roaming and exposing glistening skin. They only broke away for a moment so Brittany could thrust a couple of glow sticks into our hands, and then Santana pulled Brit's waist back to hers. After we both had one last swig, Sugar was whisked away by some guy in large sunglasses.

**Mercedes**

Excited warmth flooded my body, and now, all I wanted to do was dance, and feel Sam's muscled body dancing against mine.

Adele's Set Fire To The Rain was being exploited by pulsating beats which infiltrate your body and dare you to lose your mind and dance.

"Let's fucking dance!"

The music was crazy and dirty, and Sam and I jumped and moshed and grinded hard against each other. At certain times, other people danced with us but I always went back to Sam, and his strong, greedy hands wouldn't let me get away too far.

Time was lost; we shared a can of unopened beer, and each had two straight shots of Absinthe. But it was whatever Sugar had offered us that gave me the buzz. All these songs I knew and loved were being wonderfully tortured by crazy bass lines which throbbed in my bones.

And I couldn't keep my hands off of Sam.

**Sam**

Never before had I danced with any girl like this, with Mercy like this. There were no boundaries, and we were crossing lines like there was no tomorrow.

_Well, tomorrow wasn't really a sure thing anymore._

My hands slid beneath her top, squeezing her tighter and bringing her closer to me. She was pressing her beautiful cleavage against my chest, and dancing with the motive to seduce me, and it was fucking working.

I don't know exactly what it was but the careless attitude of everyone was sparking something; knowing it was the end of the world, that we'd all soon die, just intensified everything.

Now, with the heavy music and dancing and darkness of the sky, I literally just wanted to rip her clothes from her gorgeous body. I pulled her closer, burying my face in her neck and grazing my tongue against her sweet skin.

"Sam, I feel weird. Good weird but-"

"Weird," I finished, latching my lips onto her throat. Her fingers tightened in my hair, which felt too good. Her hands were sliding down my stomach, hooking into the waistband of my jeans.

Before I even had a chance to think about it, I was leading her through the tight crowd of people, towards the side of the street. I was being touched and nudged all over the place, and I had to shield Mercedes because I could only imagine what would be happening to her.

"Sam…"

I finally found a quiet space, a little space between buildings right at the edge of things. I couldn't even see past the first few people in front of me, it was that packed and hectic. I positioned us so she was on the inside, and my back was facing the out.

Our hands instantly found each other, knowing where we wanted to be touched.

She crushed her mouth against mine, and without hesitation, I slid my tongue to move against hers. We weren't battling for dominance, like Catherine and Eric in that story, but proving to the other just how desperate we were. The drugged music was still crawling around us, the smell of sweat, alcohol and something artificially sweet was threaded with Mercedes' perfume. I was fuelled.

**Mercedes**

I could feel his strong, rough hands moving beneath my top, skimming my stomach and clamping onto my breasts. A moan escaped from my mouth into his. His firm backside felt good beneath my hands as I pressed him closer to me, and when there was no space left between us, my fingers were grazing the smooth skin above his hipbones, brushing against the whispers of soft pubic hair above his briefs.

"So hot," he whispered. And just like that, something switched, and I could feel him thrusting his hips into mine. I spread my legs that little bit further, letting him in more.

There was nothing stopping me, nothing stopping either of us. I pushed my hand past the denim fabric, and brushed the thin material of his briefs which were struggling to hold his erection. There was too much of him, and all I wanted was to take all of it, right now.

His kisses were becoming urgent. Harder.

"Sam, I love you so much." I pressed against his stiffening warmth, and I swear I felt him tremble.

"I love you more, Mercedes." He was trailing delicious kisses down my neck, whispering against the tender part of my throat. "I'm so in love with you." He bent his leg, gently rubbing his strong thigh in between mine. I leaned back into the wall, trying not to completely melt in his touches, but he only held on tighter, and pushed himself closer. And there was something amazing building up from my core, like the best knots of butterflies any girl could feel.

"Sam-" There must have been something in the way I breathed his name that made him pull away and glance at me. His eyes darkened to a sinful shade of green, igniting those two blazing forest fires again.

"I can't wait any longer." Something glistened in his eyes, and I assumed it was lust until I felt his teeth nip against my jaw and his tear broke against my cheek. I closed my eyes, wanting to ignore his pain and passion because it was too much for me. But I wanted to comfort him; I wrapped my fingers around his hard penis, and the groan he let out weakened me, and I buried my free hand into his damp blond hair, moving his lips back up to kiss me again.

**Sam**

All that flashed across my eyes were the slightly discoloured patches across her arms; I couldn't process anything else, it was like the blinding lights had flooded me of anything else apart from that faint bruising on her skin, which my hands had caused from loving her too much.

And then chaos. Sirens blared, people were screaming and running, and someone's amplified voice was shouting at us. My mind shut down for a second, and then I was running.

Running behind her, she was pulling me along, we sprinted both in the same direction as everyone yet in the opposite direction too. People crashed and fell and ran against us, pressing in and then pulling away. I was a running robot, following wherever my Mercy was taking me.

I vaguely heard her voice, calling "Sammy! Sam! Samuel, run." So I did.

This was the end of the world, wasn't it? The asteroid was coming to obliterate us sooner than expected.

Or had three weeks passed already? Did I spend all of that time inside the woman I loved? Or worse, I had spent that time simply _wanting and craving_ to bury myself inside of her. And now it was too late, we were about to die. The sirens continued to scream, teenagers continued to scatter. I don't know where we were running to – where would we hide, if the entire planet's about to be obliterated into unidentifiable pieces? My heart was about to beat right out of my mouth, and my blood was literally on fire with adrenaline, about to rush into nothing. I really didn't want to die.

My eyes glued themselves to edge of her bruising. I didn't want her to die either, I didn't want us to leave each other. I didn't know how long it would take before this stupid, dangerous rock smashed into us and killed everything. But until that happened, I would do everything I could to protect her. I would make sure I got as much of the impact as possible before anything happened to Mercedes.

The din of the panicked rave was becoming quiet – was it all over? We were swallowed by cool shadows all of a sudden, and the noise was nothing but a faraway echo. Was it all over? Was this death? Was that how quick and painless it was?

No. This is the quiet before the storm. Soon, everything would explode and shatter and break and crumble. Soon, there'd be nothing but pain and death and –

Mercedes' laughter.

"Oh my god, that was crazy!" She shrilled, and was actually leaning back against the dusty brick wall from laughing so much. "Damn, that was the best feeling ever. Scary though." Tears were spilling from her eyes, and still chuckling, she brushed them away.

And then she looked at me, and all the laughter drained from her face.

**Mercedes**

Even beneath the dark sky, in the darkness of the alleyway we stood in, Sam's ghostly face was all I could see, it was so pale. All of the colour was sucked out of him, and his green eyes which were on fire not long ago became the emptiness you see in a stale lake full of dying plants. He was horrified, and his pink lips were clamped shut, becoming bloodless.

And he was shaking like he was both scared and cold and nervous all at once.

"Sam?" I reached for his icy hands, and his fingers wouldn't uncurl. "Sam, say something. Blink for me!" Worry was beginning to bunch in my throat, and I was doing my best to swallow it down. "Blink, Sam. Breathe, just speak! Do something, Sammy, please, don't do this to me!"

He blinked. Then blinked again.

"Mercedes." It was a whimper, the broken voice of a scared boy. I wrapped my arms around his chilled body, pressing my warm lips against his cold neck, rubbing circles into the tense muscles of his back.

"Sam, it's alright. Nothing happened, we're okay. We're here." I made sure that all the warmth I had to offer was given to every part of him. I nuzzled into his shoulder, and tightened my hug around him. I carried on rubbing his back. "Sam, calm down, we're okay. Take deep breathes, alright? We're fine, we're safe. You're okay." I moved his cold hands underneath the hem of my top, pressing them to my back. Though his cold skin was shocking to my bones, I knew they'd warm up his hands.

His sob shook me inside and out. It terrified me, but I didn't let it show. "Shh, it's alright, Sam." His fingers uncurled, and even though it was the slightest movement, I was so relieved. "Shh, Sammy, don't be scared, I'm here. We still have loads of time left, okay? Plenty of time for me to annoy the hell out of you. I'm not going anywhere. Stacy, Stevie, your amazing parents, glee club – we're all here, right until the last minute, and that is not now. Shh, don't cry." But I was glad he was crying, he needed to let this out somehow.

"Mercy, I thought…" His arms were hugging me tightly in return, hanging onto me for dear life. I felt his tears fall and run down my shoulder, his sobs going right though bone and flesh. But it was good.

We stayed like that for a minute; me taking the weight of the doomed world off of his shoulders for a moment, scratching his back the way I know he liked. Without knowing, I was slightly swaying us from side to side, letting him hold onto me, comforting him like he'd comforted me almost every day. My eyes fall onto the gentle bruising on my arms behind him, and the guilt-ridden apology that had etched his face since. And it's now I realise that we're both weak and vulnerable to our love, yet we stay strong no matter what.

I don't know how long it was until he finally stopped sobbing, I just knew the exact moment when he did, and they turned into quiet sniffles. His embrace was still strong around me, just less desperate.

"It's alright, Sam, we're okay. We'll be okay. You're safe." He nodded into my shoulder, placing one his very affectionate kisses onto my shoulder. And then he kissed my other one, and again, and his lips skimmed to the base of my throat and trailed up to my chin. I brought my head down and brought our lips together, kissing each other with all the love we had. I sought entry into his mouth, and he hesitated, but granted it to me anyway. The sound of us, of the wet smacking noises, made my heart swell.

I pulled away first, my hands gingerly holding both sides of his neck. "Sam?"

His eyes were rimmed red from his tears, slight puffy and still glistening. His cheeks were flushed, and our kisses obviously reddened and swelled his lips, matching the burning in the tips of his ears. His hair was darkened by its dampness. I was so grateful for all the colour finally returning to his sheet-white face. His breathing was still shallow, but at least he was breathing again. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, no. Look at me, Sam." He dragged his eyes up to meet mine. "Do not be sorry." And that was all I had to say. He nodded again, gazing at me, and me gazing at him back. I felt so tired.

"Let's go back, okay?" He tightly laced his fingers with mine, repeatedly brushing his warm lips against my knuckles as we started to make our way back.

People were still running when we were a few minutes away from the raided rave. I saw the distant flashes of police lights, and hurried us along. I stuck to the darker, quieter streets, holding onto my beautiful Sam and not letting go.

I was furiously debating whether to take him back to mine, or go to his. Either way, there would be questions asked to us but there was no way I would sleep without him.

My phone buzzed in my free hand, a text from Puck. **U guys come hme now! **

Puck would cover for us, and I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The way home seemed to stretch endlessly, and for a moment, I almost forgot which corner turned onto my road. I went with the right one, and halfway down the road, at our gates, I saw Puck. I pulled Sam along quickly, and as quietly as possible, Puck opened the gate to let us in.

"Are you guys okay?" He whispered.

"I think so." But I know he was asking about Sam.

"Did you get hurt at all?" His eyes roamed over me, checking for injuries.

"No, we're fine." We walked through the back entrance of the house, and crept up to our floor.

"Don't worry, I'll cover for you, okay? Go to sleep, and look after him." He pulled me in for a quick hug, and watched as we went inside my room.

**Sam**

I wanted to speak, I wanted to help. But as soon as I tried, I stopped. I was so embarrassed by my freak out session that there was nothing I knew to do that would fix it.

I remember looking at the glow of Mercy's phone on the way here. **03:27**. Sleep was a foreign thing to me at that moment.

She sat down next to me – I didn't even realise I had sat down in the first place – and left a slight distance between us.

She didn't look at me when she asked, "are you here, Sam?"

I closed my eyes at the sound of the sadness in her voice. Mechanically, I slipped my shoes off, I scooted up her bed, and held out my hand to her. She stared at it for a moment, before taking off her shoes and following suit. I shrugged off my jacket and pulled off my t-shirt, wanting to feel her against my bare chest. I draped us in her lilac comforter, and held her closely to me. "I'm here."

"Thank god," she sighed. "You scared me, Sam. You just-"

"I know, baby, I know. I'm sorry. I was scared myself." My eyes still felt sore from crying so much, my voice was raspy.

"Your eyes were…empty. I didn't know what to do, Sam." Her shoulders were shaking with the threat of tears.

"You did everything, Mercy. Hearing your voice was enough to help me. Hell, feeling you there was comforting enough. It just took me a while. But thank you, you saved me." She snuggled closer, and I held her tighter. "I'm okay. But are you? That was selfish of me, I shouldn't have-"

To shut me up, she captured my lips with hers. "No. You need to let yourself be comforted as well, Sam. I love you too, you know?"

I nodded. "I know that, so well."

"I'm okay. But the thought of letting go of you is frightening me."

I smiled a little, understanding exactly how she felt. "Well I'm not moving an inch, so even if you wanted to let go, you wouldn't be allowed to." The barriers between us broke down, and she was clutching me just as desperately as I had to her. I could feel her tears streaming onto my chest, her mouth kissing and whispering against the place over my heart, her small hand pressed against my ribs.

"Just…don't leave, Sam. Please stay with me." I held her tightly, stroking her hair and breathing in her scent. There was still dizziness somewhere far inside my head. But she was keeping me grounded.

"Gravity."

"What?" She raised her head to look at me, and her eyes found mine.

"You're my gravity. And I'll never leave you, Ma Sweet. I'm here. Always."

She fell asleep squeezing me, kissing my chest and saying 'I love you, Samuel.' I fell asleep hoping she wouldn't stop any of that, wishing that she could shower me with attention until the very last day, which wasn't as far away as we both tried to believe.

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**Just let me know what you thought!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N Wanna give so much love to KurlyQ722 and erchills for so much love and support (and great writing.)**

**Also Em (guest), hope you enjoy this chapter, and Pleezah for being such amazing friends.**

**Keeping this as a T cos I don't think it's too explicit to be an M.**

**Please read, review and enjoy.**

* * *

**Mercedes**

Even with Sam beside me, holding onto me, the nightmares I kept having made for a really bad night's sleep. It was all dying lights bouncing around my mind, and things crumbling and the feeling of being ripped away from everything. It was that weird feeling of falling, until Sam would nudge me awake and I'd be in his warmth again. But when morning light finally broke into my room, I felt awful.

Sam was snoring very softly, both of his arms grasped around mine. He was otherwise quiet and still all night, and I was hoping that meant he was sleeping peacefully. His grip was weakening, so I slipped away into the bathroom at the other side of my room. I washed my face with freezing cold water, hoping to restore some life back in me. I stared in the mirror, wondering if I look like a girl who's ready to die in a few weeks.

I glimpse of blonde hair flashed in the mirror, and by the time I opened my eyes again, Sam's long arms were reaching around me, his face pressing into the back of my neck. I took a shaky breath, not wanting to cry for what would be the millionth time. Without letting go, he led us to the toilet seat, sitting me on his lap, rocking me.

I turned slightly, so I could rest my head in the perfect place between his shoulder and neck. He leaned back into the cistern, allowing me to lean back into him. I closed my eyes, feeling his warm skin, smelling the faded scent of his deodorant.

**Sam**

Time had become something new and different to me. Sometimes I counted the minutes because they mattered, didn't they? It was a certain amount of time before the end of the world, so each second should have be accounted for.

But then again, none of it mattered. It was going to happen, whether it was tomorrow or next week or whatever. Counting up to it seemed like a complete waste, and so time just became a useless chunk of something else, like this asteroid. I didn't know what to make of it.

All that I was using to measure my life was Mercedes' sleeping breaths. I knew the exact moment she fell asleep – the moment she let me be the one to steady her, letting me be the one to hold onto her and keep her here. The way I knew she wasn't okay but was refusing to let it out to me.

She's never slept badly. Even if it was scorching weather, or she'd gone to bed late, or she'd had a stressful day, Mercedes always managed to sleep well. I always knew that things must be pretty bad with her when she had a bad night. I felt her waking up, tossing and turning and sighing all throughout the night. I don't even think she slept a solid hour.

So I was glad she was sleeping now, even though she needed more.

And then I was trying to think of what we could do today. We both needed to relax, her more than me. But I didn't know how.

Then I remember her visit to the lake last week with a few of the others, and she really seemed to enjoy it.

Already the day seemed bright and warm, although I wasn't about to depend on this chaotic weather. But if I drove my truck as close as I could to the lake, we could chill, just us two, with shelter just behind us. All I knew was that I wasn't leaving her side today.

My butt was going slightly numb but I seriously couldn't care less. I don't know how long it had been, but finally she started stirring. It must have been ten minutes or so.

"Sam?"

"Yeah, darlin'?"

"You should have woken me up, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall-"

"I let you fall asleep, you needed to. How are you feeling? Really."

She'd already had a deflection on her lips, until I said the last word. "Sad. What about you?"

"The same. Wanna spend the day with me?" She was nodding against my shoulder already, and I couldn't ignore the speeding up of my heart.

"I've got a plan, wanna hear it?"

"Go on…" Her voice was raspy, sounding almost uncertain.

"You take the best shower ever, get dressed, and text me when you're ready, and I'll come and pick you up."

"Where are you going? Pick me up for where?"

"To wash and change my clothes, and then take you out to the lake. I thought we could spend the day there."

"Really?" The hope in her voice was reassuring enough.

"Yes." I patted her leg, and she got up.

"Let me text Puck, then." There was a sort of deflation in the way she was moving, like she didn't see the point. It was killing me. As I shrugged into my shirt, she said "He already texted me, my parents have gone out to church, so you're okay."

I wanted to do all I could just then to make her smile, to cheer her up, but I knew this day out would help, if anything could.

"I'll go now. Promise to be ready in an hour?"

"An hour, Sammy?"

"Please, baby, even an hour is too long."

She rolled her eyes – which I was so glad for – but nodded anyway. "Alright, Sam. I'll walk you out."

At the front door, I pulled her in for a hug, and kissed her forehead. "An hour, okay?"

"I'll see you in a little while, then."

As I walked backwards, not turning away from her, I noted that the weather was nice enough to sit outside, and I was praying furiously that today would cheer her up.

**Mercedes**

Even though it was Sam who was the one to panic last night, seeing that fear on his face made it all real for me, though I wanted to pretend otherwise. I didn't want to think about it all the time. I wanted to protect him, I didn't want him to be scared or hurt by this damn asteroid. Yet there was nothing I could do to stop him from hurting. Nothing I could do for anyone. Singing a few songs and giving a few hugs could hardly heal everyone around me. All I wanted was to be comforted too. I didn't know how to handle all this, though I was doing my best. But the fear of dying was nestled too strongly inside me.

I took my time brushing my teeth and showering in my favourite lemon scented shower milk, wetting parts of my hair too, so it'd go wavy after I brushed it dry, the way Sam always adored. After moisturizing, I pulled on my trusty, ruby red jeans and a white tee that was partly laced with black at the back and the sleeves. I stuffed my feet into red and black high tops. And since it was only the lake, I decided to wear a plain pair of earrings and a chunky bracelet. It was almost midday, so I had to quickly spray myself with sweet perfume and hurry downstairs before Sam got here, draping my jacket over my shoulder as I hurried into the living room.

Puck was lounging on the couch, headphones on even though a movie was playing on the TV. I tapped his forehead.

"Going out?" He asked.

"Yeah, to the lake."

He swung his feet onto the floor, turning to face me. "You okay?" I nodded. Luckily, Puck wasn't the greatest at reading me. "You sure?"

"Yeah, some air will do me good."

"And Sam?"

"Better, he just…panicked a bit last night. Oh, what was with the text anyways?"

"I dunno, I just had a weird feeling so I texted Santy, and she said sniffed the cops coming from miles away."

"I'm not surprised."

"Exactly, in the Adjacent, I think you're trained to have that skill from birth."

"It sure as hell worked though."

He nodded. A quick silence fell over us. I wanted to ask about him and Quinn again, but I knew the more I pushed, the worse it would get. And I wasn't about to spend the rest of the day reminding him of everything that was wrong. "What are your plans for today?" I asked instead.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I think I'm just gonna relax, maybe, until the 'rents get gome. I think I'm gonna pig out, too."

"Like you do every day?"

He clicked his fingers and pointed, "exactly."

I heard Sam beeping his car horn before he even pulled up to the house.

"Alright, Noah. I'll see you later."

"Later," and he flopped back onto the couch.

"Oh, and did you manage to cover for me yesterday?"

"They didn't even notice you were gone. Now go, please? I have some lesbian action-"

"Bye!"

Even though it hadn't been long since I'd been away from Sam, I found myself rushing over to his beat up truck, excited to be beside him.

**Sam**

The closer we got to the lake, the more relaxed we felt. The roads were literally empty; a few cars were just abandoned on the streets. Some windows were smashed, and the dry concrete of the roads were littered everywhere in cans and wrappers and cigarette butts.

I slowed down at one sight in particular – a preacher sitting on the roof of a car, with his avid listeners spread at around him on the ground, with bibles digging into the palms of their hands. None of this felt real, I've never seen the world so chaotic and hopeful. Exhausted and hopeless. I was stuck in between, with my Mercy right here with me. I didn't know where to go or what to do or think. But the one thing I did know was that I needed a day away from it all. I needed to stare up at the deceptive sky which appeared to be blue and clear even though it was set for execution.

Mercedes' hand covered mine on the gearstick. And just like that, I remembered what I was doing, creating a day for us to rest, and forget the world for just a few hours.

The sound of the rough earth beneath the heat of my rubber tyres was a little bit unnerving. Is this what it would sound like when –?

"It looks so pretty."

The lake, and the wilderness it nourished, were a few miles out from the city, so there was hardly ever anyone here, unless it was a really nice day. But during this time, everyone was obviously preoccupied elsewhere because it was just us. I blinked, and then viewed the lake ahead with Mercedes' open eyes and mind. The lake was so still and reflective, partly made up of leaves and branches and mud. Ducks that looked like they were wearing green helmets were cutting through the surface. The type of thought Quinn hated came into my mind, the type of thought which Mercedes would encourage in me. Did these ducks have any idea, about anything that was going to happen? But even that thought wouldn't help anything.

I reached into the backseat to pick up my worn blanket, the largest pillow I had and two bottles of lemonade from a small cooler I quickly grabbed from the motel.

As we got out of the truck, she laced her fingers through mine. I walked us to a quiet spot, still in the shadow of the trees, though the sunlight reaches us. I set out the blanket and pillow, watching her take her trainers off, and lie back on the ground, facing the sky. I followed her, and we were side by side, arms and thighs just about touching.

"So what now?"

"This is it."

I heard the confusion in her voice as she asked, "this is it?"

"Yep."

"What do you mean? What about your plans?"

"These are it! I would have thought my company would be good enough, Mercy."

"Sam, you know I love being near you, at any time for whatever reason. I was just curious."

I had a feeling that if I brought up my idea for her to get some sleep then she'd do all she could to fight it, even though the raspiness in her voice was still there.

"Good. I just wanted to spend time with you, away from…"

"Things?"

"Yeah. Things."

"I love that plan." Thank god. It was silent for a while, but I knew it had meaning. "I thought you were a cuddle monster?" She hinted.

"You know I am, I was just waiting for you to say the words."

"Sam…"

"Go on…"

She shook her head. "Can I cuddle you, Sammy?"

I tugged her arm slightly, and she rolled over into my side, arms around my waist and head nestled under my arm. "I love the way you smell."

"You smell better." I kissed the top of her head, and gently rubbed both of my hands over her arm. I stared up at the blue sky, mixed with the rays of the sun. There were only a few wispy white clouds, and they were slowly sinking down behind the envious trees. A few birds soared through the sky. I wondered if they knew any more than we did. Or were they just as clueless as the ducks in the water.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing ground-breaking. You?"

"Tell me."

I paused for a second, rephrasing my thoughts. "I was just wondering what the birds see from up there."

"Pretty much the same."

"The same as us?"

"No, I mean, I was thinking pretty much the same as you."

"Of course. Are you comfortable?"

"Perfect, next to you."

I smiled. "I love you, so much Mercedes. Do you know that?"

"Do you know how much I love you, Sammy Daddy? Just thinking about you makes my heart beat a hundred times faster."

"Because it's matching mine, whenever I think about you."

She stretched up toward me, so I kissed her. Shortly, but sweetly. After we pulled away, she nestled herself closer into me, I held her tighter, stroking her arm.

It took the flight of magpie from one side of the lake to the other before Mercedes' breathing began to deepen. I'd planned out an entire conversation in my head which would help send her to sleep, but she was fine on her own.

I held onto her while she slept, listening out for any of her restlessness from last night. But there was nothing, she kept her arms around me, breathing into my chest, legs resting on mine. My mind was in tune with hers, so as soon as she was safely settled into a deep sleep, my mind finally relaxed and drifted off. Just feeling her soft warmth pressed into me was all the comfort I needed to sleep.

I'm not sure what caused me to wake up, but it wasn't with a start. The way I easily drifted off asleep was the way I drifted back to wakefulness. The sky had darkened slightly, but the sun was still dripping gold into the deep blue. The temperature had also dipped a little, but I was warm. Mercedes was beginning to stir too, I'm guessing feeling me awake was enough to wake her up.

"Hey Sam." Something brightened inside me at the sound of her voice – it was hardly raspy, and she sounded better; happier, relaxed.

"Good evening, ma'am."

"Did we sleep for long?"

I checked the time on my watch. "At least four hours."

"How'd you sleep?" She punctuated this with a kiss to my jaw.

"Great. Like, seriously. What about you?"

"More than great. You're so comfortable, Sammy."

"Because I was made for you, that's why."

"Very true. You're mine, right?"

"All yours."

I looked into her sparkling eyes, which were catching the clinging light of the day. I wanted to kiss her so bad right now, knowing that if we did, then it wouldn't be one quick kiss like earlier. It'd be more, and that was for certain. The way she was gnawing her lip, and coyly lowering her eyelids, suggested that she felt the exact same way.

**Mercedes**

"Hey you two!"

I jumped at the sound, but focusing my eyes a quarter ways around the lake, there was a beaming Rachel, arm linked through Finn's.

I'm not sure exactly why, but I actually felt happy to see them here. My time spent alone with Sam was perfect, even if we were asleep for most of it. But seeing Rachel and Finn here reminded me that we were still all here, that it was certainly possible to carry on living, and that we could still run into friends at the lakeside. And it made it even better that it was them two in particular. Rachel and I have had our problems, as have Finn and Sam. But also, like me and Sam, they had their struggles in order to stay together. And there they were, like Sam and me, loving each other, reminding themselves that life wasn't quite over yet.

Sam sighed from beside me. "Guess I could share you for a little while," he whispered, before they got into earshot. We sat up, and I got to my feet as Rachel hurried towards me. And then I realised she was holding something in her hands, a box of something.

A bucket of fried chicken, I thought, before she wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug.

"It's so good seeing you guys," Finn admitted, sharing me in a hug with his girlfriend.

"I know, what are you guys doing here?" Sam asked, hugging them both as soon as they let me go. "And…what's with the chicken, Rachel?"

Before she had the chance to give her life story, Finn spoke up. "She's never had fried chicken before. I mean, I know she's a vegan and all, but who hasn't even tried a little bit, right?"

"True," Sam and I agreed.

"And plus," she said, nibbling at the huge chicken wing she held in a napkin, "I've never been this messy before. It's…almost life-changing!"

We all laughed, and Finn tossed us a greasy paper bag. "Burger and fries," he explained.

"Um…?"

He smiled at me. "We got a little bit too much. And we said we'd give them to the first people we saw, so…"

Sam was not one to waste food. "You're welcome then," he smiled, swiping the bag from my hands. "Do you guys wanna eat with us?" I gave him a side-eyed glance, noticing how accepting he was of their company now that there was food involved.

"We'd love to!" Rachel sank down right beside me, utterly enjoying her chicken, and only so often offering a piece to Finn, who amusingly denied any. "It's so good!"

"I'm glad you think so. I'm surprised places are still open…" I took another bite of my burger, savouring the taste.

"I know, we had to look out for the places that seemed safe to go inside."

"What do you mean?" Sam shoved another handful of fries into his mouth. I rolled my eyes at his teenage boy manners, but I felt so affectionate for him then. "It's rude to roll your eyes," Sam said, nudging me.

I saw Finn's eyebrows furrow in confusion, wondering how Sam knew my response even though he didn't see it. "Either places have been closed, looted or just vandalized, and-"

"Or the owners just lost their minds."

"Or that," Finn chuckled.

We continued to eat our food in comforting silence, before Sam asked, "so how have you guys been? You know, since yesterday and all?"

They exchanged a glance between themselves. "We're just going with it," Rachel answered, but she didn't sound sad or anything. And the look Finn gave her suggested that they were doing okay. And I agreed with their positivity. Why did we have to be sad every hour of every day? The only unhappiness we had to suffer was that which we created for ourselves, and the day we actually died. Until then, we could actually try to be happy.

Sam wrapped his arm around my waist, and I leaned back into him as I finished my burger and fries.

"Oh my Barbara, that was a lot of chicken. I'm so full!" She crawled onto Finn's lap, bringing his arms around hers. "I can't believe I've never had it before, so good!"

"Rachel, why am I so glad that you're so glad about chicken?" I asked.

We spent a while just talking, about random things like tequila shots, the dumbest songs we've ever heard, and political elections we thought were conspiracies.

Eventually, the position of my body was leaning towards Sam, wanting only him. But I saw that in Rachel and Finn, too, how their bodies seemed to be fitting each other's more and more.

After a quick searing gaze exchanged between the two of them, Finn got to his feet with Rachel still in his arms. They kissed each other passionately. "See you guys soon, okay?" Finn said once they broke apart.

"Sure, see you soon."

Finn grinned, and jogged away from us, with Rachel playfully squealing in his arms.

Sam and I sat in a few moments of silence once they were out of sight.

**Sam**

And both of us had the same idea. We reached out for each other at the same time, and then I was leaning down on her, pressing into her wonderful curves, kissing her soft lips, grazing my tongue against hers.

Her breath hitched, and I could feel her shiver beneath me. We became more urgent to feel each other, more affectionately so. I just wanted to touch her everywhere, to adore her. And the lake was so peaceful and calm and cool, that I wanted to be passionate, desperate and hot with her.

Mercedes' hands ran up my back, pressing just below my shoulder blades. She trailed kisses down to my neck, placing a soft kiss on the skin over my Adam's apple. She grabbed the back of my head, fingernails caressing the nape of my neck. I closed my eyes at the feel of her possessiveness as she re-captured my bottom lip between her teeth. I twirled a loose bit of her around my finger, pulling on it ever so slightly.

"Sam." I felt her whisper this against my lips, against my skin and into my bones. I was slowly moving against her, feeling her body heat intensify below me. Her small hands skimmed down my body, slipping beneath my black long sleeved tee and roaming over my stomach and back. The feeling of her skin on mine was enough to undo my self-control. We gave short, sweet kisses, always pulling away, before we went back into it, our tongues pushing against each other. I brought my knee up, pressing and gently rubbing against her core. She slipped her hand into my jeans, squeezing gently. I shuddered against her, my breath catching in my throat. "Mercy, I don't-"

"Yes, Sam."

I paused, though she continued to line my jaw with her soft kisses. "I mean-"

"I want you, Sam. Really, really, badly." She punctuated each word with a kiss on my face, her voice lowering each time she spoke. I tightened my grip on the waistband of her jeans, my fingers kneading into the soft flesh over her hipbones. Without knowing, I was unbuttoning her jeans, kissing her lips red raw.

**Mercedes**

This was starting to overwhelm me, yet all I wanted was more of him. I wanted to melt from his hot attention, to beg him to fix me in the way only he knew how.

When I felt him undo my jeans, anxiety popped all over my skin. I began pulling his shirt over his head, and he paused to strip it off in one easy move. Then he lifted my shirt over my head and arms.

I undid his jeans in return, and again he stopped to kick them off. I could feel his erection against my jean clad thigh. Moving my hand down to free him, I continued to suck at his shoulder.

I've never been this close to anyone before. But Sam wasn't anyone, and everything was already making sense to me; I felt like I knew what to do, like my inexperience was needed in order for me to respond to only Sam.

All I wanted to do was to satisfy him, in the easiest way I knew how. His penis was already hard in my hand, and as soon as I tightened my hand around him – he was so big, I wasn't sure how I'd be able to take care of all of him – he groaned against my neck, pushing his muscled chest against my breasts. He started thrusting his hips, closing his hand around mine, instructing me and guiding me.

"As hard as you can," he whispered in my ear. Listening to his throaty voice, I stroked harder, swallowing his moans and sighs. The bliss on his face, and the way he was moving with me was so lustful, it was sending mini fires through my veins, flaming straight to my centre. I was extremely hot for him, just by getting him off. He was so beautiful.

His breathing became shallower, and his touches more pleading. I stroked harder, using my other hand to graze his hipbones. He felt so warm against me, his hair dampening on my skin.

But then suddenly everything went a bit darker, thick black clouds had suddenly choked the sky.

"Almost there…harder…so fucking gorgeous…" A flash of light shot through the sky, bringing with it ugly rolls of thunder.

And then it started pouring – the kind of cold, sheeting rain which shocks you inside and out. The wind had instantly picked up too, and it was forcing us away from each other.

"What the fuck! This can't be happening! What – what am I supposed to – fuck!" He sprang to his feet, the rain only seemed to become colder and heavier, washing away any sparks that were created between our bodies. He held out a hand, and pulled me up. I would have been able to tolerate a bit of rain if it wasn't so freezing and torrential. The thunder wasn't really reassuring either. We were both trying to hold onto our peeled clothes and shreds of dignity. But watching Sam was such a crazy sight. He was running so awkwardly, since his erection was still semi present, and he had to hold the rest of his clothes and the blanket to his body. I only got a quick look at his impressive ass on my run back to the truck.

Once we clambered in, I took a chance to look at the soaking, almost completely naked Samuel Evans, the love of my life, in the seat beside me.

He let out a yell, smacking his hands against the dashboard. And since I knew it was only from sexual frustration, the laugh that was threatening to burst out was becoming more difficult to contain. His eyes sliced towards me, a few fat droplets fell from his dark blonde hair. I clamped my lips shut, raindrops running down my face. He leaned in and furiously crushed his lips to mine. I didn't fight back though; I parted my lips, inviting him in.

After a few tense seconds, he yielded.

We battled with our tongues, Sam being the one to powerfully dominate. I pulled away, collapsing back into the passenger seat.

His breathing was heavy, and he kept his eyes trained on me as if I was going to try and run from him. I avoided his partly exposed, partly erected penis. "So…how ya holding up? Guess that's kind of the problem."

"Fucking hell."

I giggled, doing my best to rein it in so he wouldn't be so embarrassed. "Yeah, it's all been a bit of a flop. Oh, wait…"

"Mercy, no," he moaned, squeezing his eyes shut and fake pouting.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be making this hard for you. Oh!"

His shoulders were shaking with supressed laughter, but he was doing his best to hide it.

"Sammy? I didn't mean to put a damper on things – I hate to hear you moan about it."

"You are evil!"

"Come again? Well, guess you'd have to have come the first time…"

Laughter erupted in the car, from the both of us. "I can't even…"

"We have the worst luck, do we not?"

He scoffed. "You weren't the one about to get off, though…"

"How'd you know?"

Sam quirked an eyebrow at me, and I innocently shrugged my shoulders. His bright green eyes raked down my drenched body, and seared me as they roamed back up. He held out his hand to me, and I curiously took it. His hand firmly held mine, and he closed his eyes as he brushed his cool lips across the back of my hand.

"I don't know what to do," he admitted, almost to himself.

Neither did I. I wanted desperately to give myself to him, to feel him all over me. And it wasn't like we had all the time in the world. But it shouldn't be awkward or rushed or forced. I wanted it to be natural, and I could tell Sam wanted this too. I wanted it to be thrilling and wonderful.

His neck and ears were still flushed, and I could tell the heat of the moment was still clinging to his skin. He let our linked hands fall onto my knee. His index finger extended, he traced a line along my inner thigh, all the while keeping his gaze on me. He let my hand go, and walked his fingers further up, playing around between my black lacy underwear and my jeans. Just the promise of his touch was making me breathless. He said my name as he gingerly stroked the fabric of my underwear with the ghosts of his fingertips. Then he applied more pressure, moving downwards; running his fingers along the building sensation. My heart was pounding against my ribcage. And then he started to do it faster, and the intensity burning in his eyes was only heightening everything I felt.

A wicked bolt of lightning struck again, followed by a dangerous wave of thunder. Hailstones were scratching against the surface of the truck, carried by the strong winds blowing across the surface of the lake.

"We should go." I said it so quietly, that I didn't think he'd hear me. He was still moving his fingers against me, and the pleasure was too much for me, if we couldn't go any further.

He pinched me very softly and playfully, before leaving me with this desperate urge for more. "We should get dressed." He barely said this louder than when I spoke, and a muscle in his jaw was twitching.

"What now?" I asked, buttoning up my jeans over my soaking underwear.

Sam quirked his eyebrow at me again, pushing his hair back from his forehead as he put his clothes back on. "We try not to self-destruct on the drive home." I looked away, inspecting the frayed loose thread from the hem of my shirt. "We still have the rest of the evening left. I'm sure we can find…something to do."

"Like what, Sammy?"

After pulling down his shirt, he shoved his key into the ignition. "Let's go for a drive." His sly wink wasn't helping anything. We were so close to giving in, and I wanted to go further. I saw the tight grip he had on the steering wheel, and his small smirk as he felt me stealing glances his way.

Even though there wasn't a long time left for us on this Earth, tonight seemed like forever, like an endless stretch of possibilities for us.

* * *

**Please let me know what you thought - I need all of your honest opinions for fuel!**

**And does anyone have any desires they'd like to see come to life in this story? Is there something that**

**you think would be really important/special if it were really the end of the world?**

**Thank you so much for sticking with me!**


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